Luke Vargas

After recording its strongest annual performance since 1979 last year, the World Gold Council said that global demand for the safe haven asset is expected to remain strong this year, driven by lower interest rates and persistent geopolitical risks.

Deputy Finance Editor Quinton Webb says the run-up in prices means a lot of different investors are trying to get in on the trade.

And gold isn't the only metal hitting new records this morning, with silver, copper, and palladium all rallying too.

Tech giants Meta and Microsoft reported earnings yesterday.

Both results topped analyst expectations, with Meta posting record Q4 sales growth and Microsoft blowing past net income forecasts.

But what ensued was a tale of two very different investor responses, as Meta shares popped in off-hours trading while Microsoft's fell.

Joining us to dissect the themes cropping up across this earnings season so far is State Street Investment Management's Altaf Qasim.

Altaf, Meta and Microsoft are both spending big on data centers, building out their respective AI capabilities, and both also signaled yesterday that trend is not going to end.

It's really going to play out through 2026.

Why then the mixed reaction on Wall Street?

I mean, is the difference here digital ad spending targeting consumers versus AI spending for the purposes of enterprise products?

Altaf, I'm just thinking about Meta and its digital ad business, a real cornerstone for the company.

How relevant is it that consumers seemingly have been as receptive as they've been to AI images and marketing materials?

Obviously, we know creators have chafed at this, but it's a tailwind for businesses that have gone big on AI image creation if they can normalize this within the ad space.

Tesla reported results last night.

CEO Elon Musk announced on an earnings call that the company would be canceling its Model S and Model X EVs and converting some factory space in California to making Optimus robots.

Althoff, we are not here to discuss how sad this pivot might be, but it raises the question, if investor patience is already being tested by the lack of revenue from some AI spending around the LLM build-out, is spending big now on a slightly more distant, autonomous future going to be a harder pill to swallow?

Altaf, one undisputable bright light so far this earnings season has been chip demand.

We saw this in SK Hynix's results and ASML's and Samsung's.

How long can companies across the semiconductor supply chain keep having these blockbuster quarters if the thus far deep-pocketed hyperscalers are still sorting out how to make a profit off of AI?