The third quarter earnings reports of US stocks kick off. Can the AI investment boom continue?

Global trade uncertainty has not deterred companies from injecting funds into AI investments. UBS expects global capital expenditures to grow by 67% this year to $375 billion. Strategists at Société Générale indicate that capital expenditures as a percentage of sales have reached the highest level in 25 years. Once companies cut back on AI spending, chipmakers like NVIDIA and infrastructure and service "star stocks" that have surged due to the AI boom will lose their reasons to continue the celebration. Mike O'Rourke, Chief Market Strategist at JonesTrading, stated that from an investor's perspective, a slowdown will be "like an emergency brake." "I expect you will see many stocks enter a real profit-taking mode." In Europe, industries critical to AI, such as telecommunications companies, power generation firms, and grid operators, may be the biggest losers from the decline in U.S. spending. Bloomberg has created a custom basket tracking 10 such stocks, including Siemens Energy and Orange, which has risen 24% this year