Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving markets and why.
The artificial intelligence spending story just got more complicated. Uber burned through its entire two thousand twenty six AI budget by April, and rather than doubling down on automation, the company is now hiring human workers — because they're cheaper. Microsoft and Nvidia are facing similar dynamics, and the broader takeaway is sobering: enterprise AI deployment costs are running far ahead of productivity gains, forcing a genuine rethink of the automation thesis that has driven much of this bull market in tech.
Shifting to alternative asset managers, Brookfield Corporation just bought back one billion dollars of its own stock, a move that signals conviction from management at a time when the sector has been under pressure. Buybacks of that scale from a firm as disciplined as Brookfield tend to carry weight — they don't return capital casually. The question the market is now asking is whether this marks a floor for the broader alternative asset management space, which has struggled with slower fundraising and rate sensitivity.
And a pardon with market implications worth watching — President Trump has pardoned former congressman Stephen Buyer, who was convicted of insider trading and ordered to forfeit more than three hundred fifty thousand dollars. The move is drawing scrutiny from securities law observers and raises fresh questions about the deterrent effect of insider trading enforcement going forward.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
