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a lot of noise about AI, but time's too tight for more promises. So let's talk about results. At IBM, we work with our employees to integrate technology right into the systems they need. Now a Global workforce of 300,000 can use AI to fill their HR questions. Resolving 94% of common questions, not noise. Proof of how we can help companies get smarter by putting AI where it actually pays off deep in the work that moves the business, lets create smarter business.
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Cameron Dawson / Market Analyst
Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio News.
Jonathan Ferro
This is the Bloomberg Surveillance Podcast. I'm Jonathan Ferro along with Lisa Abramowicz and Annmarie Horton. Join us each day for insight from the best in markets, economics and geopolitics. From our global headquarters in New York City, we are live on Bloomberg Television weekday mornings from 6 to 9am Eastern. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify or anywhere else you listen. And as always, on the Bloomberg Terminal and the Bloomberg Business App, we begin this with the chip sell off building. Cameron Dawson of New Edge wealth writing the following the semiconductor profit cycle depends on two big factors. Hyperscale is continuing to spend aggressively and limited new competition entering the space that could challenge margins. Markets seem to be questioning both. Camp joins us now for more. Camp, good morning. Good to see you.
Cameron Dawson / Market Analyst
Good morning.
Jonathan Ferro
That quote just perfectly illustrates this moment we're in. Right now. We are questioning both. Do you think it's valid to question both?
Cameron Dawson / Market Analyst
I think it is, but I think before we get to the fundamentals. We have to appreciate the technicals because so much of the upside was driven by positioning chases and squeezes and flows. And so what we're experiencing now is effectively the mirror image of that because flows were so aggressive into leverage products within the semiconductor space, not just in the U.S. but of course in South Korea. What we're seeing is the dynamic is that as that leverage unwinds, you're seeing a lot more downside. Effectively, these stocks got so overbought by the time you got to the middle of June that even though we've seen things like a 40% drawdown in something like SK Hynix, you're technically not oversold yet. So if you look at a name like Micron, yes, It's down over 20%, but it's still 40% above its 200 day moving average. You can say, think the same thing for the SOX overall. So it's important to remember narrative false follows price. So all of these negative narratives on the fundamentals we're talking about is effectively just following the negative price action.
Jonathan Ferro
So is this a price move looking for a narrative, or is there a story here?
Cameron Dawson / Market Analyst
I think it's a matter of both. I think some of the dynamic that we saw in the upside move was ignoring the fact that a lot of these capacity additions, while you're thinking about Micron itself adding capacity, SK Hynix, Samsung adding capacity, and now China adding capacity. We've all known this for the last six months over a year, because we've known that there has been a capacity shortage. But now the market is starting to wake up to it. And at the end of the day, you had this clarion call from big bulls on things like Micron saying, Of course the 85% gross margin is sustainable, this time is in fact different. But this is still a very, very cyclical business. And so given the fact that you are going to have capacity additions over the course of the next few years, you will see downward pressure on those gross margins. The big difference or the big thing to watch is that is there any downward pressure on the revenue line? Because that's really when you start to see the deleveraging and the operating leverage of these businesses. And if you continue to see weakness within the hyperscaler names, the question that we have been asking is if the stocks continue to get pressured, will they continue to raise Capex?
Lisa Abramowicz
At the same time, there is this issue of exactly whether the economics are changing and moving away from certain companies. And I'm thinking of say, the closed models like the open eyes and the anthropics that are suddenly coming under pressure, open source models that are coming out of China but are being adopted rapidly by a lot of US companies. I mean the seek this, the search for cheaper models is definitely taking steam. Do you think that does fundamentally alter the tech story?
Cameron Dawson / Market Analyst
Yeah, because I think the big question that you have is a scaling factor. We know that we are getting growth because of some of this capex investment, but effectively the growth is coming in slower than what the capex investment is. So you can see that by looking at free cash flow. Free cash flow for a name like Google was negative in the corner because their capex is growing faster than their operating cash flow. You go to 2027, that's going to be the case for all of the hyperscalers. And so you're going to have a world where capex goes faster than operating cash flow. You're not seeing it show up in the operating fundamentals yet. And this is in a world where we're still thinking that we're going to be at the leading edge and those are going to be the areas, those leading edge models are going to be the areas that drive growth. If you have competition, then you could see still be in a world where capex continues to grow faster than operating cash flow, not just in 27, but potentially in 28. That of course would come in to a head with where consensus is simply because consensus is expecting a big acceleration in operating cash flow in 28.
Lisa Abramowicz
Have chip stocks and hyperscalers sold off enough to make them attractive to you
Cameron Dawson / Market Analyst
on a technical basis? No, I think that if you're looking at oversold indicators for something like the semiconductor area, certainly you're not at that level of a total wash and flush out yet for the hyperscaler, you're now trading at a valuation that is as low as it was back at Liberation Day. Valuations that are as low as it was back in the lows in 2022 for certain names matter, for example, has undercut those lows. You can Also look at ETF flows mag 7. ETF flows have been very aggressive outwards over the course of the last month or so. So there's probably some opportunity there to step in. The challenge that we have is that we know these businesses are fundamentally changing. They were monopolies that had very high return on invested capital because they didn't have to spend a lot of money to make money. These are now competitive businesses. They're having to spend a lot of money to make money, which means that our oyster going lower. So we think structurally valuations will go lower as well.
Jonathan Ferro
That's why matter of Microsoft to some extent are in a bear market. You alluded to it earlier in the conversation. I don't want to bury it's important. Do you think they respond to what their stocks are doing? Do you think the stock move shape their approach to capex?
Cameron Dawson / Market Analyst
Well, in a way they kind of have to. Because if free cash flow is negative, that means that you have to rely on outside funding to meet your capex goals. But now that outside funding is getting more expensive, if your equity price is down, your incremental equity raises will be more dilutive. If your credit spreads are up, your incremental debt raises will be more expensive. So they cannot ignore the markets. And if you're a name like Microsoft who's seen its valuation fall by 45% since October, at what point do you say hey, maybe this is being perceived as being profligate and we need to pull back on that spending that has
Jonathan Ferro
been a massive tailwind for this economy. So let's work through it. The year so far, rolling sharks through energy, through rates, now through tech, does that become a growth scare at some point? Does the shake up in tech translate into some kind of fundamental story down the road?
Cameron Dawson / Market Analyst
Potentially yes. If we see see more weakness within the S&P 500. The strength of the equity market has been such an important driver of economic growth or support for economic growth in the US it's allowed the consumer in many ways to deal with the fact that real income growth has been negative because of higher inflation and low wage growth. But if you continue to see pressure within equity markets and put this into context, we're still three and a half percent off high. So this is, this is nothing to necessarily cause a of bunch big pullback in spending. But if you were to see a deeper, more protracted route, you could effectively have a negative feedback loop where the equity market weakness translates into economic weakness.
Jonathan Ferro
Stay with us. More Bloomberg surveillance coming up after this.
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Jonathan Ferro
So here's the latest this morning. The U.S. and Iran pausing strikes for a fourth consecutive night. The President saying both sides are engaging in talks. Let's build on this with Stephen Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations. He writes the following the Trump administration made it clear that it was standing down because the United States does not have the weaponry to carry out. The Iranians now know that they have impunity. Steven joins us now for more. Steve, you say in your words the Trump administration made it clear. Did they make that clear?
Stephen Cook
Well, all of the reporting from the advice that the President has gotten from the Secretary. I'm sorry, not the Secretary of State, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as Admiral Bradley Cooper, the head of centcom, was that we were running out of munitions and that the bombing in the Strait had diminishing returns. So that the President called it off and is now relying on the Oman channel where the real negotiations are underway. Meanwhile, Iran's proxies, the Houthis, as well as Iraqi militias, are doing a lot of damage to Saudi oil processing facilities and other energy infrastructure around the region. The Iranians are doing what they normally do is that they are signaling directly to the United States and its allies, that and its neighbors in the region that it's willing to to talk while directing its proxies to sow chaos.
Cameron Dawson / Market Analyst
When it comes to rebuilding stockpiles, it's not like turning on and off a light switch. So do you expect this pause to be a long one?
Stephen Cook
Well, it does seem that despite the President's threat of escalation that he has made the decision that that's not really in the cards. So I think that the pause will go on longer than he was indicating on Air Force One yesterday, which has really become just an idle threat. The last two weeks of bombing did not change the Iranian position at all and in fact left them in a somewhat stronger position because it was the United States that essentially called off the campaign.
Cameron Dawson / Market Analyst
We know that Oman tries to keep friendly relations with everyone. They somewhat play both sides. Do you expect them to come out and support Saudi Arabia for a toll?
Stephen Cook
The the Omanis have at times sounded a lot more like Iran's lawyer than a mediator. They maintain that they are being bullied by the Iranians because there is some daylight between Washington and Muscat. That of course is a self serving statement. But it does seem that the Omanis are really the best chance for trying to figure out how to reopen the Strait, whether it will be a toll or not. They say publicly at the moment that they don't support at all. We'll see what happens as the negotiations take place. It' note that there is a negotiation going on between Oman and Iran right now, not between the United States and Iran and Oman at the same time.
Lisa Abramowicz
Stephen, attacks are continuing. There were reports on satellite images of smoke coming from an oil facility in Saudi Arabia. In Bahrain there were two Amazon Centers, data centers that were reportedly under attack. How much do you expect to see a region region wide war amplified and participation of like the likes of the UAE as well as Saudi Arabia?
Stephen Cook
That's a. It's a good question and it seems to me, as I was noting before, that while The Iranians are signaling a willingness to talk through the Omanis. Its proxies are being directed to attack American partners in the region, with the exception, I should say, of the United Arab Emirates, which has not taken any hits thus far. But. But the Houthis, who have a separate conflict with the Saudis, have hit ABQ and Abqaiq, a major oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia, as well as a number of other facilities. Iraqi militias have also joined in in these attacks. So once again, it is the Iranians talking from one aspect of this, while at the same time their proxies undermining hopes for regional security.
Lisa Abramowicz
I'm just wondering what it's going to take for some of these Middle east economies to really become once again a safe haven for businesses. Hilton just reported earnings and said that revenues from the Middle east and Africa declined by nearly 30% as a result of the war in the region. This was the hotspot for so many different companies to really go and do business. I mean, is that kind of over for the foreseeable future?
Stephen Cook
Well, this war has raised a question about the Gulf development model, which was based on security and stability and attracting the talent of the world to these city states and thus attracting lots of investment. If you cannot provide security, people are not going to come and people aren't going to invest. The Emiratis have taken somewhat different course. They have invested in their relationship with the United States and Israel, while at the same time signaling to the Iranians that they want to have better relations that seems to have shielded them during this round. It's possible that the Bahrainis and others will follow suit. But once again, the Iranians are intent on disrupting American military operations in the region. And as long as the Kuwaitis and the Bahrainis and Qataris and others have major American bases there, they are going to come under Iranian fire.
Jonathan Ferro
Stay with us. More Bloomberg surveillance coming up after this.
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IBM AI Representative
lot of noise about AI. But time's too tight for more promises. So let's talk about results. At IBM we work with our employees to integrate technology right into the systems they need. Now a Global workforce of 300,000 can use AI to fill their HR questions, resolving 94% of common questions. Not noise Proof of how we can help companies get smarter by putting AI where it actually pays off. Deep in the work that moves the business. Let's create smarter business IBM.
Jonathan Ferro
So here's the latest this morning. The Fed's two day meeting kicking off later on today. Markets widely expecting the central bank to hold rates steady. But a surprise hike by Fed Chair Kevin Walsh is not completely off the table. Matt hold back of Morgan Stanley writing we expect the Fed to stay on hold. That said, inflation has to perform in the coming months or the Fed will switch the hikes later this year. Matt joins us now for more. Matt, good morning.
Matt Holdback
Good morning.
Jonathan Ferro
How much dissent are you expecting tomorrow afternoon?
Matt Holdback
Well it's interesting, I mean we, we are expecting a couple of dissents coming off out of the committee but but I do think that you could make the case that there may not be any dissents actually John, because In the end, if we look at what has happened since the June FOMC meeting where there were no dissents, the data has been better, the inflation data has been better. The labor market data has been somewhat disappointing relative to the trend that we had seen in March, April and May. And so if they weren't willing to dissent in June, why all of a sudden the change of heart? I mean, crude oil prices are roughly where they were going into the June meeting. They're obviously a lot lower than they were three months ago. What's the rationale to descent? It's you can make the argument that there will be no dissents tomorrow.
Jonathan Ferro
Beth Hammock, Cleveland Fed president making a statement on LinkedIn going into the quiet period, which was interesting timing, making the statement, the suggestion that companies in her district are telling her that prices is too high and perhaps ultimately this Fed should do something about it. What was your reaction to that piece?
Matt Holdback
I think people have thought prices were too high for 20 years, John. The real question is have the increase in prices that we've seen over the past five years Fed into inflation expectations such that people continue to expect inflation to be running very, very hot for a very, very long time to come. There's not a lot of evidence to suggest that that's the case. And when you look at markets, just look at five year forward, five year break even inflation rates, right? The Fed publishes this measure. It's on the Bloomberg terminal. It's been very stable since the Fed hiked rates in 2022. Where is the need for the Fed to, to, to get inflation fighting credibility? It already has. I just, I don't see the rationale for a rate hike on Wednesday to solidify credibility. The Fed already has. It doesn't make much sense to me.
Lisa Abramowicz
Well, does it still have it in the same way? And I ask this because I'm looking at long end, long ends of the yield curve continuing to rise and this feeling that right now in markets, people are pricing in more than a 70% chance of a September rate hike. If there are no dissents, do people take back some of that pricing of a potential rate hike ahead?
Matt Holdback
Absolutely. The thing that we have to recognize is that real rates have gone up a lot. Financial conditions have already tightened a lot. The big question facing the Fed today is have they tightened enough? And I just don't think that they have enough information to say one way or the other.
Lisa Abramowicz
Does it behoove them though, to take that pricing out of the market to give a sort of dovish signal at a time when the market is doing the work for them and could potentially get inflation lower without them even having to act. As long as there are dissents, as long as there is this family fight,
Matt Holdback
Gosh, I think if they were being that clever, then it's we've got a whole nother situation on our hands. I mean, like, do they manipulate the dots to try to get a certain outcome? I think the answer has always been no. Right. They do, of course, look at the statement language. They have a message they want to convey to the public. But are they going to play games with the public's perception of. I think the answer is no. I think they have a clear mission. They've made that very transparent. Transparent to the public. They want inflation to come down. Interest rates have gone up a lot since Chairman Warsh delivered that message at the June FOMC meeting. The question they face today is have those rates gone up enough to help inflation come down in the manner that they would like to see? It's only been six weeks. I don't think they have enough information in hand to say one way or the other with confidence, which is what I think you need to have. If you're delivering a rate hike that isn't fully priced in by the market, you need to have confidence that you're doing the right thing. I think the answer is that they don't yet have that confidence. We don't think they're hiking rates, but
Cameron Dawson / Market Analyst
at some point, if inflation doesn't come down quick enough this year, don't they have to hike? Or they just look like they're talking out of both sides of their mouth and not delivering, it's just empty promises?
Matt Holdback
Absolutely. If inflation doesn't come down in the way that they would like to see rate hikes are on the table. I mean, that's what we're saying. At Morgan Stanley, our chief US Economist Mike Gapen is making that point very, very clearly. He happens to believe inflation will come down such that the Fed isn't going to deliver rate hikes this year. It's a view based on a solid rationale. The issue that we face today in this moment for this meeting is do they have enough information to say with confidence that financial conditions haven't tightened enough? And I think the answer is clearly no.
Jonathan Ferro
So much just quickly, do you expect that gap between the two year yield and rate just to be sustained for the time being?
Matt Holdback
For the time being, absolutely. After this meeting, we're going to get two rounds of economic data before the Fed has to make a decision in September. That is a lot of economic data that will inform their decision in September. We think the data will come in and tell them they don't need to hike rates. We'll see.
Jonathan Ferro
This is the Bloomberg Surveillance Podcast bringing you the best in markets, economics and geopolitics. You can watch the show live on Bloomberg TV weekday mornings from 6am to 9am Eastern. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify or anywhere else you listen. And as always, on the Bloomberg Terminal and the Bloomberg Business App.
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Hosts: Jonathan Ferro, Lisa Abramowicz, Annmarie Hordern
Guests: Cameron Dawson (NewEdge Wealth), Stephen Cook (Council on Foreign Relations), Matt Holdback (Morgan Stanley)
Date: July 28, 2026
This episode focuses on key issues shaping global markets, with in-depth discussions on:
The hosts engage expert guests for insights on market cycles, Middle East geopolitics, and Fed strategy—all set against a backdrop of shifting economic fundamentals and geopolitical risk.
Guest: Cameron Dawson, Market Analyst, NewEdge Wealth
Segment Start: [01:49]
Key Drivers:
Technical vs. Fundamental Narratives:
Industry Cyclicality & Capacity Additions:
Hyperscaler CapEx and Open Source Competition:
Is it Time to Buy?
Stock Price and CapEx Feedback Loop:
Potential Economic Impact:
Guest: Stephen Cook, Council on Foreign Relations
Segment Start: [11:34]
Pause in Strikes:
Oman's Mediation Role:
Proxy Attacks and Regional Escalation:
Business Impact and Regional Horizon:
Guest: Matt Holdback, Morgan Stanley
Segment Start: [19:36]
Market Consensus:
Disagreement Within the Fed?
Inflation Expectations and Public Sentiment:
Market Pricing and Forward Guidance:
Conditional Outlook:
Yield Curve and Data Dependency:
On Semiconductor Sell-off:
On CapEx and Tech Sector Change:
On U.S.-Iran Tensions:
On the Fed’s Dilemma:
This episode offers a rich, informed snapshot of global market dynamics.
Listeners come away with nuanced context for both market moves and macro risk, featuring direct perspectives from financial, geopolitical, and economic thought leaders.