Good afternoon, and welcome to Markets Desk.
American Express is showing why its business model holds up across cycles. First quarter results confirmed strong spending growth among wealthier consumers, the cohort Amex has deliberately cultivated for decades. That demographic resilience is exactly what makes the card network an interesting long-duration hold heading into an uncertain macro environment.
Shifting to the AI infrastructure trade, Anthropic's explosive growth trajectory is drawing fresh attention to the stocks surrounding it. Amazon, Alphabet, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Salesforce have all taken positions through funding rounds, meaning exposure to Anthropic's potential upside is already embedded across some of the largest names in the market. If Anthropic reaches the valuations being discussed, those stakes matter.
And in the small-cap AI space, Aehr Test Systems has climbed six hundred eighty percent over the past year, a move that demands scrutiny rather than celebration. The company stress-tests semiconductors to catch defective chips before they leave the factory floor, a niche that becomes more valuable as chip complexity grows. Whether the valuation now reflects that opportunity fairly is the real question investors need to answer.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
