B (4:09)

Lou, we got to bring in some of the partnerships that they announced this week because this is moving markets. PayPal announced that they're going to be a checkout partner for their instant checkout. But basically the shopping on ChatGPT are these the kind of things where it's both going to be good for some of these existing companies and it's showing how these are going to monetize or it just seems like announcements are really driving the market today rather than actual financial results, which is a little concerning as we sort of dance around this bubble talk.

C (4:38)

Well, this goes back to is it investable too? The OpenAI question you asked too, because look, OpenAI before the Microsoft announcement had two real questions. They had to answer how are you going to raise the money and how are you going to turn a profit? I would argue that the more important question is still left unanswered. Maybe they're answering the raise the money but not the turn in profit. In theory, this is why deals like the PayPal deal are important. Because I think the PayPal deal probably means more to OpenAI than it does to PayPal. Because PayPal brings credibility. US normies that want to make sure our money doesn't disappear. If we're shopping on, you know, or whatever, one of these models, we trust the PayPal name. I, I just don't know if the world needs this. I might use chat GPT to find me a deal and then check out on a website. This whole idea of doing everything on the platform and doing commerce on the platform versus just kind of a replacement for search, we'll see. I still think that's a big hurdle to get there. I think it's as a tool like look to help with searching and then I end up on the Amazon website anyway. Sort of makes more sense to me for now, but it's a step in the right direction.

B (5:54)

The other thing we want to look at is what is this stake marked as on Microsoft's balance sheet? Because if it goes up, if it goes down, none of those gains and losses are going to have to be marked to market each quarter. So we are going to at least have an idea how Microsoft is valuing this company in the stake now. $135 billion or so. So potential for both gains and losses in the future. When we come back, we're going to talk about some job cuts at some big companies in corporate America. You're listening to Motley Fool Money.

D (6:24)

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B (6:52)

To Motley Fool Money. Another big topic for investors lately has been what's going on with the economy. And one of the concerns over the past couple of weeks has been a number of major layoffs that have been announced. Amazon was rumored to be interested in cutting about 30,000 jobs. I think they actually announced about 14,000 this week. Target had a thousand or eighteen hundred layoffs, depending on how you're counting things. But you have ups, Intel, Nestle, Accenture, Ford, all of these companies have huge layoffs. This could potentially impact economic spending. We are coming up to the holidays. This is a huge quarter for a lot of companies. So, Rachel, how should we be thinking about this, these changes in the job market and how it's going to ultimately impact revenue, profits and ultimately the stock market?

A (7:40)

I do think that there is a potential for a significant impact here and I think we're already kind of starting to see cracks, if you will, in the labor market. I mean, there was a recent report that came out from the payroll processor ADP that had reported a tepid quote, unquote, and slow recovery in private sector hiring. There was a different report from the conference board's labor market differential. It showed that fewer consumers believe jobs are plentiful. There was a University of Michigan survey, right, that came out this month that indicates that consumer sentiment remains low as we're seeing persistent inflation and job market concerns. There's been an increase in debt payment delinquencies and inflation has been stubborn. We've also seen really just starting to begin to see the kind of trickle down impact of the imposed tariffs and how that's putting upward pressure on prices. And so that has a lot of reverberations for a lot of different industries. One thing I will say, I think that there is sort of this drive sometimes to look at these numbers and maybe try to trace it back to past financial crises. Obviously, the 2008 financial crisis is one that is top of mind, I think for a lot of consumers and investors. I think there are some key differences here. I mean, it's very obviously concerning to see a series of major layoff announcements. But some of these recent cuts are very closely tied to factors like pandemic era over hiring, the increased role of automation and artificial intelligence. That's certainly part of it. If you're worried about the state of the economy, I think that we need to keep an eye on the national unemployment. Know, some companies might be cutting costs to boost profit, boost profitability, you know, looking for things like a rise in defaults on consumer loans. There are a few key metrics to keep an eye on right now.

C (9:23)

I think Rachel's right. There's a lot of different factors going on here with a lot of different companies. And yes, some of it is more tied to past mistakes than the present. But the point is it's all happening now. And I think that, you know, as a macro watcher, the, you know, yes, there was maybe a lot of excess capacity in some of these companies, but why are they axing it now? That is what concerns me. Travis, you said just the potential for this to ripple through the economy and what seems to be a no hire economy. For a while we were no fire, no hire where there weren't really layoffs. It was just really hard to find a job if you needed one. If we're moving into a period where there are increasing numbers looking for jobs and there's still not enough, not enough certainty that companies are looking to hire, things could get a lot worse from here. Just in terms of consumer spending and all that. We really need clarity on the corporate side. And I'm worried that's not coming anytime soon. Especially with the government shutdown, with tariffs, with so many things going on. There's a real potential for things to get worse from here.

B (10:30)

Lou, I wanted to get your thoughts on just how this could be a snowball rolling down the hill. And I look back at 2008 and the job losses in 2000. We think of 2008 as a really bad year. But for the stock market, it didn't actually get really bad until third quarter, I think even into the fourth quarter. And then that bled into 2009. The market didn't bottom until March of 2009, but the job losses in 2008 were relatively modest in the first and second quarter. Actually improved in the second quarter to 71,000amonth. You know, that would put, we would be a little bit alarmed by that. But by the fourth quarter, it was 510,000 job losses per month. So it was, you know, somebody gets laid off in the first quarter, they pull back their spending. Revenue for companies starts to go down before they're cut back a little bit more. Maybe they do some layoffs. It, it, it just is the kind of thing that is a self fulfilling prophecy almost in the wrong circumstances. And then if you find some sort of rot in the economy, we found, you know, these credit default swaps and all that stuff in 2008. Who knows what we'll find if things actually get worse now? So is that the worry is that, you know, this is, this is a couple of announcements, but it's starting to become a trend. And if that trend becomes a snowball, then we've got real problems.

C (11:48)

Absolutely. And I think you articulated it well. So I'll give you the, the glass half full case instead of kind of, you know, underlying everything you said the economy is not the stock market. And there is at least a case to be made that with the stock market now currently high, that we've called it the K shaped economy recovery, where some people are doing very well, but others are not doing well at all, that's not great for society, but it can sustain businesses. If there is a world here where we're cutting, we're becoming more efficient, there is still a critical mass of consumers able to spend. And with interest rates coming down like some debt, costs and costs like that are coming down where earnings can sustain. Even if things are getting worse on Main street, that could mean for a while, even if things are worse on Main street, the stock market can hold. I don't think. You know, I don't want to be Chicken Little here. I also don't want to be too dismissive because, yes, if things, if things continue in the wrong direction, it, it will resonate on Wall street eventually. But for now, I don't think we need to panic in the streets. As investors, I do worry just kind of, you know, as a consumer, as a, as a citizen, just the societal impact more right now than I do the investing impact.

B (13:03)

Speaking of potential job cuts and changes to the economy, we're going to talk a little bit about robotics and where AI may be taking us in the future. When we come back, you're listening to Motley Fool Money.

E (13:13)

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B (13:42)

Welcome back to Motley Fool Money. This week we saw some massive news for AI outside of chatbots, which is interesting. Could be really interesting if you're interested in getting a humanoid robot. It also could be really bad for the economy, as Lou talked about, with some jobs being displaced. But Nvidia announced a bunch of different partnerships. A couple that caught my eye with Joby and Stellantis. But first, I want to talk about the Neo Robot. Lou, did you see this one? It's a five foot six robot. It will at least, my understanding, at least clean up after my kids. You know, that'd be great if we could actually get somebody to do that, maybe fold the laundry. Maybe we're moving to the point where these are going to be in more and more homes.

C (14:23)

With a click of the button or a simple verbal command, Neo transforms into a personal housekeeper.

A (14:28)

Yeah.

C (14:28)

Wow. Who wouldn't want that, right? All for $500 a month on subscription. I don't know what to think of this. My mom used to say if something sounds too good to be true, but they claim these are coming in 2026. I'm not going to put a deposit down, but wow. We'll see.

B (14:45)

The Jetsons may be here. Well, let's get to something that's a little bit more real. Today for at least stock investors, Joby announced a deal or that they were going to be using the Nvidia platform to power some of their AI tools. They've been talking about this for a while, so this isn't necessarily new. There was a new partnership between Stellantis, Uber, Foxconn, Nvidia Autonomy, Autonomous driving, autonomous flying. Seems like we're really, really reaching an inflection point and everybody is moving in that direction.

C (15:14)

Yeah. So Lou the consumer is very excited about the potential. Lou the investor. I don't think there's anything I can do with this today and I'll tell you why. But first of all, Joby Nvidia, they're working on autonomous flight technology. I hope they get there. I believe they could get there, but I'm not sure I'll still be investing when they get there. You know, everything we've talked about, you.

B (15:33)

Don'T think that we're going to be able to hop in an EVTOL aircraft at your local heliport and just like fly to the next city?

C (15:40)

No, no, I. Autonomously.

B (15:42)

Yeah.

C (15:42)

Anytime, anytime soon. I. I'm going to take the under on regulation there. Okay. There's a boring part of the Joby thing. We're basically using AI for predictive maintenance, which I think makes a lot more sense. That's boring. And it's not really going to move the needle. Everyone's doing this already, but that makes a lot of sense. The idea I want to see self driving cars everywhere with no. With no restrictions. Before we even talk about. You go out and talk on Main street about how we're going to have just robot planes flying through the air. I don't think that's going over right now.

B (16:15)

Accidents do seem like less of a problem in the air than it is on the ground.

C (16:20)

Yes, but no one's afraid of a car crash. Everyone's afraid of a plane crash. You know, Statistics aren't all what matters. Similarly with Stellantis, what they signed was, and I quote, a framework for technology development, licensing, production and vehicle procurement. That's corporate speak for we're going to get in a room and brainstorm. And that's great. A lot can come out of brainstorming, but not a lot of concrete action for now. I love the direction. Everyone's doing exactly what they should be doing. I don't mean to be dismissive of it. I think it's great. I also don't see it as actionable in the foreseeable future.

B (16:55)

Yeah, the Nvidia drive, I did some digging on that. It doesn't seem like they're actually testing level four or level five Autonomy today. So it is a lot of frameworks. We're going to develop some stuff, but know GM involved, lucid is involved, so everybody's moving in the right direction. But these should be talk companies. Yeah, and, but these are not the companies that have autonomous vehicles on the road today, even on the Uber or Lyft platforms. Those are companies like whmo, May, Mobility. Mobileye has a partnership with Volkswagen. So there, there are kind of different levels of advancement here, but at least everybody's moving in that direction. Rachel, let's turn to the medical space. Eli Lilly is not necessarily the first company I think of when I think of artificial intelligence, but they are at least looking at using AI for some of their development. What did we learn this week?

A (17:41)

Yeah, this is very exciting and I think when we talk about AI, we talk so much about the applications we're seeing in the tech space, which are very exciting. But there are so many ways in which AI is revolutionizing healthcare and the way that pharmaceutical drugs are developed. So Eli Lilly and Nvidia have partnered to build what they're calling the most powerful supercomputer in the pharmaceutical industry. And the core of the collaboration is Nvidia's DJX SuperPod. It's equipped with over a thousand of Nvidia's Advanced Blackwell Ultra GPUs. The supercomputer is going to be housed within Lilly's facilities and it's designed to really revolutionize the entire life cycle, from data intake and model training to high volume predictions. This AI factory is essentially going to enable scientists to analyze entire genome sequences, predict patient outcomes, explore biochemical possibilities in an unprecedented scale. That is so key to aid and quicken the pace of drug discovery in a way that is efficient and meaningful. One of the things that Eli Lilly's chief AI officer, yes, they do have one of those noted was that the company is shifting from using AI merely as a tool to really embracing it as an intelligent partner in the research process. They're even going to be utilizing the Nvidia Isaac platform to use intelligent robots to optimize their manufacturing operations. So this is very exciting. These are very practical applications for AI, and it's part of a larger trend we're seeing. You know, you already have companies like Johnson and Johnson, like Nova Nordisk that are investing heavily in AI technologies and in many cases working with Nvidia. So it's an area to track if you're interested in AI and the intersectionality with healthcare.

B (19:20)

We will see where all of this AI development ends up, but definitely a lot going on and I think by 2030 we're going to see what's real here and what's not. Are chatbots going to be the future, or is it going to be airplanes that are flying around by themselves? I'll take the airplane loop all of the above. As always, people on the program may have interest in the stocks they talk about, and the Motley fool may have formal recommendations for or against. So don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. All personal finance content follows the Motley Fool's editorial standards and is not approved by advertisers. Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. To see our full advertising disclosure, please check out our show notes for Lou Whiteman, Rachel Warren, Dan Boyd, behind the Glass, and the entire Motley fool team. I'm Travis Hoyam. Thanks for listening to Motley Fool Money. We'll see you here tomorrow.