Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving markets and why.
Tesla's earnings are drawing the most attention on the equity tape today. Profits plunged as the company leaned hard into discounts to defend EV volume, squeezing margins in the process. Capital expenditures more than doubled as Elon Musk accelerates the pivot toward autonomous taxis, semiconductors, and humanoid robotics — a bet on the future that's clearly costing the present.
Shifting to the AI infrastructure story, Google burned through nearly six billion dollars in cash last quarter as artificial intelligence spending surged. Cloud computing grew eighty-two percent, which helped carry revenue and profits higher, but that cash burn is a real number investors will sit with. The Gemini app is now closing in on one billion monthly active users, nipping at ChatGPT's lead — a milestone that gives the spending some strategic weight.
Meanwhile IBM cut its full-year outlook, which would normally send a stock lower, but shares are actually bouncing after the formal earnings report came in ahead of the bruising guidance warning issued last week. Markets had already priced the pain, and when reality matched the warning rather than exceeded it, buyers stepped back in. ServiceNow added to the more constructive software read, topping revenue expectations despite a difficult sentiment backdrop for the sector.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
