AI trade

China may permit Alibaba to purchase Nvidia's newest chips, according to a report by The Information picked up by Bloomberg. The potential approval would mark a shift in Beijing's stance on US semiconductor purchases by Chinese tech firms amid ongoing export restrictions and US-China trade tensions. If confirmed, it would give Alibaba access to advanced Nvidia hardware for its cloud and AI operations.

Retail investors are turning their attention to three cloud and AI-related stocks following Microsoft's expansion of its Copilot assistant. The list highlights companies positioned to benefit from growing enterprise demand for AI-powered productivity tools. Microsoft's Copilot push has become a key catalyst in the AI trade, and individual investors are looking for secondary plays in cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure that could ride the same wave.

Citi is advising clients to treat any pullback in stocks as a buying opportunity, arguing that the AI-driven rally still has room to run as the US midterm elections approach. The bank's strategists say momentum in artificial intelligence-related shares remains strong despite stretched valuations, and that dips should be added to rather than feared. The call adds to a debate over whether the AI trade can keep powering record markets.

Advertising firm 33Across has rebranded as WealthStage, a platform aimed at banks, lenders, brokers, insurers and trading apps. The company is offering an AI engine that scores household wealth, positioning itself for an estimated $124 trillion in wealth changing hands by 2048. Questions are being raised about which data feeds the engine and what part of the business remains under the 33Across name.

Investors are watching two key indicators this week that could shape both the AI-driven stock rally and the broader economy. With AI stocks carrying much of the market's gains, traders are looking to fresh economic data and earnings signals for confirmation that the rally has room to run, or warning signs that a pullback may be coming.

Hedge funds are profiting from a popular dispersion trade as tremors in artificial intelligence stocks and oil markets widen the gaps between individual securities. The strategy, which bets on differences in performance among related assets rather than market direction, has been boosted by recent volatility. Increased divergence across sectors is making the trade increasingly attractive to fund managers seeking returns independent of broader market swings.

A new publication, 'The Economics of Open-Weight Inference', examines the costs and financial trade-offs of running open-weight AI models. It looks at how deploying freely downloadable model weights compares economically with using closed, API-based services, a question of growing importance for companies and developers deciding how to build on AI systems. Details of the publication's specific findings were not available.