🎙️ Worldwide Markets – Episode 665

📅 11 February | 🎧 Recorded Tuesday around lunchtime 💼 Powered by Standard Bank Global Markets & Shyft

🌍 This week in markets

🏗️ Hyperscalers go full throttle

2025 CapEx spend near $380bn, well above expectations
2026 estimates push towards $660bn when Oracle is included
The hyperscalers:
- Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet, Amazon ☁️
The "shovel sellers":
- Nvidia*, ASML*, TSMC 🧑‍🏭🪓
Key shift: these businesses are no longer asset-light
Warning signs emerge as some stocks trade below their 200-day moving averages ⚠️📉

"Nothing good happens below the 200-day."

📊 Stocks & charts

🤖 Software shock & AI disruption

Growing fear around software-as-a-service under pressure
New AI tools like Claude and "vibe coding" spooking SaaS names 💻😬
Reality check:
- Niche software may struggle
- Enterprise platforms (e.g. Salesforce-type businesses) are harder to replace

🪙 Bitcoin, gold & currencies

🌐 The debasement trade

🖥️ A possible opportunity: servers

Hyperscalers replacing ageing chips & servers faster than expected
Alphabet spending up to $185bn, with ~⅓ just on replacement 🔁
Question raised: Is Dell a quiet AI beneficiary? 🖥️📦
- Forward PE near 10
- Analysts broadly constructive

⚒️ Junior miners: why it's so hard

Spotlight on Copper 360, Orion, ASP Isotopes*
The commodity may be in the ground – but:
- Extraction is complex
- Capital is hard to raise
- Logistics, infrastructure & communities matter 🚧
Junior mining = high risk by design 🎢
Even experienced operators fail

📢 Events & deadlines

Power Hour – 19 February 🕠 17:30 | 💻 Webinar or 🏢 Rosebank
- Tax-free investing beyond TFSA
- ETFs, income strategies & Reg 28
Important reminder ⏰
- Many providers have early contribution deadlines
- Don't leave Reg 28 or TFSA top-ups to the last minute

🙌 Wrapping up

"Look after yourself — and if you can, look after someone else too." ❤️