Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The UK stands apart as a place to do business, not because of one advantage, but many working together. Over Ā£10 trillion in capital, four of the world's top universities, a 10-year industrial strategy in action, its stability with dynamism, global reach with local depth. It all adds up to greater growth. Find out more at business.gov.uk slash growth.
News when you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm Lizzie Burden. And I'm Caroline Hepker. The world's largest tech firms are showing no sign of easing up on AI spending as earnings reveal plans worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Metroloan has ambitions to spend as much as $135 billion this year as Microsoft, Samsung and Tesla also ratchet up capital expenditure.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the cash is needed to front load computing capacity and the company's already seeing a payoff in the way AI is being used internally.
I think that 2026 is going to be the year that AI starts to dramatically change the way that we work. As we navigate this, our North Star is building the best place for individuals to make a massive impact. So to do this, we're investing in AI native tooling so individuals at Meta can get more done. We're elevating individual contributors and flattening teams.
We're starting to see projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single, very talented person.
Mark Zuckerberg speaking there on Meta's earnings call as the firm's better than expected sales outlook helped to ease market concerns over record spending.
Well, despite those gains, doubts are persisting among some investors about whether firms can recoup their massive AI outlay. Shares in Microsoft dropped as the software giant announced a 66% increase in capital expenditure for the second quarter. The higher than expected spend of over $37 billion came as the firm also announced a slowdown in cloud services growth.
But Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says he expects AI expenditure to deliver for the firm.
We are in the beginning phases of AI diffusion and its broad GDP impact. Our TAM will grow substantially across every layer of the tech stack as this diffusion accelerates and spreads. In fact, even in this early innings, we have built an AI business that is larger than some of our biggest franchises that took decades to build.
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Chapter 2: What are the latest trends in AI spending by major tech firms?
That just tampers down liquidity. So the remaining market players are sort of fewer and far between. And that's a kind of environment where you get bigger amplified price moves.
Martin Ritchie speaking to us there as growing bets on a dovish Fed policy shift helping propel a record-breaking rally across commodities with gold, copper and silver all hitting new record highs.
The surge in gold and other metals came after the Federal Reserve left its key interest rate unchanged in a widely expected move. Traders largely looked past the decision, focusing instead on the weakening dollar.
The greenback has continued to slide after pairing some losses on Wednesday, even as the US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant came out to affirm that, quote, the US always has a strong dollar policy. His remarks come after President Trump sparked a sell-off in the currency by suggesting that he is comfortable with a weaker dollar.
And Deutsche Bank has announced a ā¬1 billion share buyback as it reported pre-tax profits of just over ā¬2 billion for the fourth quarter. However, the results were overshadowed after the lenders' offices in Frankfurt and Berlin were raided by German authorities yesterday. It's part of a money laundering probe looking at past dealings by staff with firms linked to Roman Abramovich.
Here's what Deutsche Bank's CFO, James von Moltke, told Bloomberg about the investigation.
Well, we had one of our occasional visits from the prosecutors yesterday, and as you may have seen in some of the reporting yesterday, the investigation relates to transactions from the years 2013 to 2018. Naturally, we're cooperating as we do in each case with the prosecutor in their search, and we will continue to do that.
James Valmolka speaking there. As news of the probe drove the bank's share price lower yesterday, it closed down 2% and currently in trading, Deutsche Bank shares are down 2.4%.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called for more sophisticated ties with China during his visit to the country. Speaking alongside the Chinese President Xi Jinping, Starmer also called for meaningful dialogue on areas of disagreement. He also emphasised the importance of international cooperation.
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Chapter 3: How is Meta leveraging AI for improved productivity?
I made a promise when we were elected into government that I would make Britain face outward again because, as we all know, events abroad affect everything that happens back in our home countries, from prices on the supermarket shelves to how secure we feel.
Keir Starmer is the first British Prime Minister in eight years to visit China as part of efforts designed to reset relations frozen since 2018 over alleged human rights abuses and other matters. China's official Xinhua news agency has hailed the event as a pivotal moment while urging the UK to adopt policies free from external influence.
That's news when you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm Lizzie Burden. I'm Caroline Hepka and this is Bloomberg.
As a place to do business, the UK stands apart. Not because of a single advantage, but a uniquely powerful combination of many. As one of the world's leading financial centres, the UK puts over Ā£10 trillion to work every day, fuelling innovation across every sector. Home to four of the world's top universities, it provides exceptional talent and breakthrough research.
This sits alongside a clear 10-year industrial strategy, unlocking smarter regulation and making it faster and easier to operate. Stability with dynamism. Global connectivity with local depth. It all adds up to greater growth. Visit business.gov.uk slash growth.
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