MARKET CALL: AI Coming To Vegas, Baby, Vegas!

The Q4-2024 earnings reporting season is about to start, led by the big banks. We expect that during their conference calls, company managements will discuss how AI may be starting to boost their productivity. In effect, they'll be trying to convince investors that every company is now a technology company either producing AI hardware and software or using them.

The AI excitement will be palpable this week. As Vince Vaughn famously said: “Vegas, baby, Vegas.” The Consumer Electronics Show, or “CES” for short, kicks off Monday evening in Las Vegas and runs through Friday, January 10. It will undoubtedly be mostly all about AI. Indeed, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang will deliver a keynote address Monday at 6:30 p.m. Nvidia's stock price has been rising since December 18 (chart). It (and the stock market) got an extra boost on Friday after Microsoft announced plans to spend $80 billion on AI data centers this year, up from $50 billion in 2024.