Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving markets and the broader economy.
The Bank for International Settlements is sounding a serious alarm on artificial intelligence investment, warning that unchecked exuberance in tech funding risks collapsing into a prolonged bust. The BIS argues that if AI fails to deliver returns commensurate with the capital being poured in, the resulting pullback could ripple well beyond Silicon Valley and threaten broader global financial stability.
Staying with tech and supply chains, Apple customers are feeling the sting of what analysts are calling RAM-ageddon. A MacBook Pro that cost one thousand six hundred ninety nine dollars on Monday jumped to one thousand nine hundred ninety nine by Thursday, with no hardware changes whatsoever. Memory chip shortages are the culprit, and even Tim Cook's famously disciplined supply chain couldn't absorb the shock.
Shifting to retail, Costco's fuel-driven growth story may be hitting a wall. Gas station comps surged more than twelve percent in May, but with pump prices down over twenty percent from their peak, that tailwind is fading fast heading into the warehouse giant's fourth quarter results. Investors are watching closely to see whether core membership and merchandise strength can pick up the slack.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
