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Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook spoke for the first time since she was targeted by President Donald Trump.

Key Takeaways

• Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook declined to discuss details of her lawsuit to stop President Donald Trump from firing her in her first public remarks since the controversy began.
  
• The ongoing government shutdown has delayed publication of key economic indicators, making the Fed's job of controlling inflation and keeping employment high more challenging.
  

Since unwillingly becoming the frequent subject of news headlines this year, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook says she can no longer eavesdrop on diner patrons to hear what people are saying about inflation.

In her first public remarks since President Donald Trump attempted to fire her this summer, Cook shed some light on her thinking about how the Fed should set interest rates as it faces risks to its goals of keeping employment high and inflation low. She declined to discuss details of her ongoing lawsuit to prevent Trump from removing her from office, but did hint at how the uproar has affected her approach to her job.

"Before current events, I used to just get lost in Virginia and walk into a diner and just listen to people talk about how they experience inflation," she said at a fireside chat event in Washington Monday. "I can't do that anymore, but I interact with everyday people."

What This Means For The Economy

President Donald Trump has attempted to remove Cook from office, in a move some analysts have said is a part of his campaign to remake the Federal Reserve and bring it under his control.

The government shutdown that began Oct. 1 has deprived the Fed of its most important official economic data that its members assess when setting monetary policy. That's left Cook and other Federal Open Market Committee members to rely on data from outside organizations, a few surveys from the Fed itself, and anecdotes from business leaders and the public about the state of the economy.

Fed officials have always scoured all kinds of data, in the case of former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan, reportedly going so far as to monitor sales of men's underwear for signs of impending recessions.

In a speech and a subsequent interview with David Wessel of The Brookings Institution, Cook said she supported the Fed's decision to lower its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-point at its most recent meeting in October, and said she had yet to decide if the Fed should cut again at its next meeting in December.

Cook declined to go into detail about her current conflict with Trump, who attempted to fire her after accusing her of falsifying mortgage documents. Cook sued to halt her dismissal, which, if it were to go through, would undermine the Fed's traditional status as independent from direct White House control.

Asked by an audience member to comment on the Fed's independence, Cook said:

"I'm not going to say much, but I support it."

IREN

Shares of IREN have soared nearly 600% in 2025 so far.

Key Takeaways

• Shares of IREN surged to a record high Monday after the Australian Bitcoin miner and data center company said it inked a $9.7 billion deal with Microsoft. 
• IREN is also spending $5.8 billion to purchase Nvidia chips from Dell Technologies.

IREN (IREN) shares jumped to an all-time high Monday after the Australian Bitcoin miner and data center company said it inked a $9.7 billion deal with Microsoft (MSFT).

Shares of IREN were up over 8% near $66 in recent trading after reaching an intraday high of $75.73 earlier in the session. Shares of Microsoft were little changed.

The company said the deal would give Microsoft access to Nvidia (NVDA) chips in its data centers over five years. IREN also said it struck a deal to purchase related Nvidia chips and ancillary equipment from Dell Technologies (DELL) for about $5.8 billion.

IREN said it plans to pay for all the capital expenditures involved by “a combination of existing cash, customer prepayments, operating cashflows and additional financing initiatives.”

Why This Is Significant

IREN, like some other Bitcoin miners, has pivoted to focus more of its business on providing AI infrastructure to capitalize on the boom in demand for computing.

Co-founder and CEO Daniel Roberts said that the Microsoft agreement represents “another major step forward for IREN as we continue to expand large-scale GPU deployments across our 3GW secured power portfolio in North America.”

With Monday's gains, IREN shares are up close to 600% for 2025.

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Amazon shares climbed to an all-time high on the tech giant's $38 billion deal with OpenAI

Key Takeaways

• Major U.S. equities indexes were mixed Monday afternoon, as tech stocks gained but most other sectors declined. 
• Amazon shares rose to a record high on a $38 billion deal to provide AI infrastructure for OpenAI.
• Kenvue shares soared after Kimberly-Clark said it would buy the Tylenol maker in a nearly $49 billion deal.

Major U.S. equities indexes were mixed Monday afternoon, as tech stocks gained but most other sectors declined. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose, while the Dow fell.

Amazon (AMZN) shares surged to an all-time high after the tech giant struck a $38 billion cloud computing deal with OpenAI that will give the ChatGPT maker access to Amazon Web Services infrastructure to run its workloads.

Shares of Kenvue (KVUE) also soared after Kimberly-Clark (KMB) agreed to buy the Tylenol maker for approximately $48.7 billion. Kimberly-Clark shares tumbled to lead decliners in the S&P 500. 

IDEXX Laboratories (IDXX) shares took off after the provider of animal health diagnostic tools posted better-than-expected results on high demand for its veterinarian testing products.

Beyond Meat (BYND) shares sank as the maker of plant-based foods said it was delaying its third-quarter financial report because it needs more time to calculate an impairment charge.

Shares of Charter Communications (CHTR) also dropped following a downgrade from Keybanc, which raised concerns after the cable and internet provider reported weak residential revenue and a decline in internet subscribers.

Oil and gold futures gained. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note advanced. The U.S. dollar was up against the euro, pound, and yen. Prices for most major cryptocurrencies lost ground.

Kabir Jhangiani / NurPhoto / Getty Images

Amazon shares are up close to 17% for 2025, with most of those gains coming in the past week.
Key Takeaways

• Amazon shares rose to a record high Monday after the tech giant said it struck a $38 billion cloud computing deal with OpenAI. 
• The agreement allows OpenAI to use Amazon's bank of hundreds of thousands of Nvidia chips.

Amazon shares rose to a record high Monday after the tech giant said it struck a $38 billion deal with OpenAI.

Shares of Amazon (AMZN) were up close to 5% around $255 in recent trading, leaving them on track to close at a record high. Read Investopedia's full daily markets coverage here.

Amazon said the agreement, which begins immediately and runs over seven years, gives OpenAI access to Amazon Web Services’ bank of hundreds of thousands of Nvidia (NVDA) chips, with the option to expand.

The company said that “AWS's leadership in cloud infrastructure combined with OpenAI's pioneering advancements in generative AI will help millions of users continue to get value from ChatGPT,” OpenAI’s popular AI chatbot.

Why This Is Significant

The agreement marks the latest in a flurry of multibillion-dollar AI infrastructure deals in recent weeks that have boosted shares of the companies involved, helping lift the major U.S. stock indexes to record highs, but have also stoked worries about a growing bubble in the space.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the partnership “strengthens the broad compute ecosystem that will power this next era and bring advanced AI to everyone.”

AWS CEO Matt Garman said that OpenAI’s use of AWS “will serve as a backbone for their AI ambitions.”

With Monday's surge, Amazon shares have added close to 17% in 2025, with most of those gains coming in the past week since the tech giant posted better-than-expected earnings on strong growth in its cloud business.

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Dev Ittycheria (pictured) will step down as CEO of MongoDB next week after 11 years leading the company.
Key Takeaways

• MongoDB's board named Chirantan “CJ” Desai, an executive at Cloudflaire, its next CEO, replacing the retiring Dev Ittycheria.
• The database software company also said it expects its third-quarter revenue, adjusted operating income, and adjusted earnings to exceed the high end of its August guidance.

Database software maker MongoDB on Monday announced it will soon be welcoming a new CEO and said it expected third-quarter results would exceed its prior guidance. 

MongoDB’s (MDB) board of directors has appointed Chirantan “CJ” Desai as the company’s next CEO, effective Nov. 10, according to a press release. Desai will replace Dev Ittycheria, who is retiring from leading the company after 11 years at the helm. Ittycheria will remain on MongoDB’s board and act as an advisor to Desai during the transition.

Desai most recently was President of Product and Engineering at cybersecurity firm Cloudflare (NET). Desai previously held positions at ServiceNow (NOW) and Oracle (ORCL). 

Why This Is Important

MongoDB shares have been on a rollercoaster ride this year, weighed on at times by doubts that the database software maker can carve out for itself a vital role in the AI space. Its forecast of better-than-expected third-quarter growth may hearten wary investors and help the stock overtake last year's all-time high.

"MongoDB has long been the partner of choice for building applications that transform businesses, and now it is uniquely positioned to power the next wave of AI-driven applications,” said Desai. 

MongoDB on Monday also said it expects its third-quarter revenue, adjusted operating income, and adjusted earnings to exceed the high end of the guidance it issued in August. The company said the quarter’s results, which have yet to be finalized, were “driven by continued strength in Atlas,” its database platform. MongoDB is scheduled to report final results on Dec. 1. 

Wall Street analysts are generally bullish on MongoDB stock, with 15 of the 18 analysts with current assessments tracked by Visible Alpha rating the stock a "Buy." The remainder have assigned it a "Hold" rating. The median price target of $375 is about 4% above the stock's closing price on Friday.

MongoDB shares pared early gains on Monday and were recently up about 0.4%, bringing the stock's year-to-date performance to about 56%. Those 2025 gains, however, don't tell the full story of an up-and-down year that saw the shares drop in March before springing higher in August to near current levels.

RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP / Getty Images

Shares of Kenvue and Kimberly-Clark have both lost about a fifth of their value in 2025 so far.
Key Takeaways

• Kleenex and Cottonelle maker Kimberly-Clark said it's buying Tylenol maker Kenvue in a $48.7 billion deal.
• The transaction is expected to close in the second half of next year.

Kenvue (KVUE) shares skyrocketed in early trading Monday after Kleenex and Cottonelle maker Kimberly-Clark (KMB) said it's buying the Tylenol maker in a $48.7 billion deal.

Kenvue shares were up over 17% in recent trading following the news, while Kimberly-Clark shares tumbled close to 13%.

Kimberly-Clark said that as part of the agreement, Kenvue investors would receive $3.50 in cash and 0.14625 shares of Kimberly-Clark for each Kenvue share they owned. At Kimberly-Clark’s closing price of $119.71 on Friday, that works out to $21.01 per share, a 46.2% premium to Kenvue’s closing price Friday. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of next year.

Kimberly-Clark CEO Mike Hsu said that over the past few years the company has undertaken a “significant transformation to pivot our portfolio to higher-growth, higher-margin businesses while rewiring our organization to work smarter and faster.” He called the acquisition of Kenvue “a powerful next step in our journey.”

Kenvue Chair Larry Merlo said the decision to merge with Kimberly-Clark came following a “comprehensive review of strategic alternatives for Kenvue.”

Why This Is Significant

The move by Kimberly-Clark and Kenvue comes as some large companies in the consumer packaged goods space turn to deals as a way to add brands to their portfolios and drive growth while facing changes in consumer behavior and rising costs, in part due to shifting trade policies.

Kenvue, which was spun off of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) in 2023, has struggled since then, with shares hitting an all-time low last month. Among its challenges, the company faces ongoing claims alleging its talcum powder causes cancer, and has been targeted by the Trump administration, which has sought to draw a connection between its Tylenol and autism.

Kimberly-Clark, which saw its own shares hit a year-and-a-half low last month, also faces challenges as it's grappled with tariffs and global economic conditions that have raised costs, and a pullback by consumers.

Shares of Kenvue and Kimberly-Clark have both lost about a fifth of their value in 2025 so far.

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Palantir is one of the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 for 2025 so far
Key Takeaways

• Palantir is scheduled to report earnings after the closing bell Monday, with Wall Street analysts expecting record revenues.
• Options pricing suggests traders expect Palantir's stock could move nearly 10% in either direction after its results.

AI investor favorite Palantir is set to report its latest quarterly results after the closing bell today, with traders expecting a big move in the data analytics software maker's stock that could take it to new highs.

Options pricing suggests traders expect Palantir Technologies (PLTR) shares could move nearly 10% in either direction by the end of this week. A move of that size from Friday's close just above $200 would push shares to a new all-time high near $220 at the high end—or pull them down to about $182, where they were last month.

Palantir's stock took a big hit in August in the wake of a short-seller's report that added fuel to worries it could be overvalued. It's more than recovered since, lifted by optimism about a series of new deals and partnerships.

Why This Matters for Investors

Some on Wall Street worry that Palantir's stock may have already climbed too high, too fast relative to its fundamentals. A strong showing in tonight's earnings report would be a feather in the hat of bulls who believe its AI growth potential is being underestimated.

Wall Street analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha see Palantir reporting third-quarter earnings per share of $0.17 on a 50% year-over-year jump in revenue to a record $1.09 billion, thanks to growing demand for the software maker's Artificial Intelligence Platform. 

A majority of analysts, however, hold neutral ratings for the stock amid persistent concerns that Palantir's torrid rally this year could leave it due for a pullback. The stock is up about 165% for 2025, making it one of the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500.

Its most ardent supporters, however, are unfazed. Analysts at Wedbush, led by longtime bull Dan Ives, boosted their target for the stock to $230 ahead of today's report, saying they expect Palantir's market capitalization to reach $1 trillion dollars—more than twice recent levels—in the next two years.

Shares of Palantir were recently up more than 1%. Read Investopedia's full daily markets coverage here.

News of the day for Nov. 3, 2025

ANGELA WEISS / AFP / Getty Images

Major stock indexes pointed higher premarket to start November.

Stock futures are pointing higher to start the week as investors look ahead to another slew of earnings reports; OPEC+ agreed to pause output hikes; China said it would suspend additional rare earth curbs; Kimberly-Clark announced plans to buy Tylenol maker Kenvue; and Berkshire Hathaway's latest quarterly report showed its cash pile climbed to a record high.

Here's what you need to know today.

1. Major Stock Indexes Poised to Open Higher

Stock futures are on the rise early Monday as investors prepare for a slew of earnings reports due from major technology and pharmaceutical companies this week, including an update from AI investor favorite Palantir (PLTR) after the closing bell today. The three major U.S. stock indexes come into today's session after ending October on a high note.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.1% recently, while those linked to the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 0.4% and 0.6%, respectively. Bitcoin was trading below $108,000. Gold futures were slightly higher, at around $4,019 an ounce. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slid to around 4.08%.

2. OPEC+ Puts a Hold on Oil Output Hikes

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies on Sunday agreed to pause output hikes in the first quarter of 2026 after an increase due in December. The group of oil-producing nations has boosted its output targets since April, but began slowing the pace since October amid worries about a glut of supply. Crude oil futures climbed, then reversed course in early trading.

3. China Suspends Additional Rare Earth Curbs

China has agreed to suspend implementing additional rare earth export restrictions, as well as end investigations targeting American companies in the semiconductor supply chain, as part of the trade truce struck by President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, The White House announced over the weekend. China also said it would consider easing export restrictions on semiconductors made by chip firm Nexperia. Shares of Nvidia (NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and other semiconductor firms are higher in premarket trading.

4. Berkshire Hathaway’s Cash Pile Hits Record High

Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.A, BRK.B) cash stockpile hit yet another high, according to the conglomerate's quarterly update over the weekend. The buildup has fueled speculation that Warren Buffett could be concerned about the market overheating after a series of recent record highs, waiting for better opportunities, or deferring the company's allocation to his successor as he prepares to step down from his role as CEO at the end of the year.

5. Kimberly-Clark Agrees to buy Tylenol maker Kenvue for Over $40 Billion

Kimberly-Clark (KMB), the maker of Huggies diapers and other consumer brands, agreed to buy Tylenol maker Kenvue (KVUE) in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $48.7 billion. Kenvue faces a leadership shakeup and growing litigation concerns as the Trump administration has sought to draw links between its Tylenol and autism. Shares of Kenvue are soaring over 20% pre-market, while Kimberly-Clark's shares are down close to 15%.

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Advanced Micro Devices will report earnings amid investor optimism over its AI products.

Tech firms will likely command the spotlight during this week’s earnings calendar, though pharmaceuticals and gig economy providers are also likely to be in focus.

Artificial intelligence demand will be top of mind for market watchers when chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices, Qualcomm, and Arm Holdings, as well as software provider Palantir, report earnings this week. Results from pharmaceutical firms come amid pressure from the Trump administration to lower prices. 

Market watchers are likely to pore over private-sector jobs data for October in the absence of the originally scheduled U.S. employment report, which is likely to be delayed again as the government shutdown enters its second month. 

Read to the bottom for our calendar of key events—and one more thing.

Tech, Pharmaceutical Earnings Reports in Focus

Advanced Micro Devices will report on Tuesday, and investors will likely want to hear more about recent deals like the one signed in October to supply AI chips to Oracle. Other chipmakers are on the corporate earnings calendar this week, including Qualcomm, which last week unveiled two new AI chips for data centers. Chip designer Arm Holdings is also scheduled to report this week. 

In other tech-related reports, Palantir’s earnings on Monday come as the software maker’s shares have more than doubled this year on strong demand for its AI platforms. Cloud network provider Arista Networks is also on the calendar on Tuesday.

Novo Nordisk reports on Wednesday, and the maker of Ozempic faces pressure from President Donald Trump over the costs of the weight loss treatment, which he said should run about $150 a month instead of the more than $1,000 it costs now. Other noteworthy pharmaceutical firms to report this week include Amgen, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca, and they come as firms have made deals to lower drug prices in response to Trump's threat of hefty pharmaceutical tariffs. 

Several key firms in the so-called “gig economy” are also expected to report this week, including ride-sharing app Uber, food delivery service DoorDash, and property-rental app Airbnb.

Private-Sector Jobs Data, Consumer Credit, Fed Speakers Highlight Limited Economics Calendar

While the Federal Reserve has raised worries over the health of the labor market, the government shutdown is again expected to keep officials guessing over employment levels in the U.S. Originally scheduled for Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' monthly employment report for October is expected to be delayed due to the work stoppage. 

It would be the second straight monthly jobs report delayed due to the shutdown, which is entering its second month. Data on factor orders, the U.S. trade balance, and job openings are also likely to be delayed due to the shutdown.

Market watchers won’t be totally in the dark when it comes to jobs in the U.S., as the private-sector ADP employment report remains scheduled for release on Wednesday. The closely followed ISM surveys on the manufacturing and services sectors are also scheduled this week, giving investors some indications on employment and pricing in those sectors. The Fed’s report on consumer credit and the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey are also expected this week. 

Remarks from Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson, St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem, and New York Fed President John Williams will also be of note after the central bank last week cut interest rates for the second time this year. 

Quick Links: Recap Last Week’s Trading | Read Investopedia’s Latest News

This Week’s Calendar

Monday, Nov. 3

• ISM manufacturing PMI (October)
• Data Delayed by the Shutdown: Construction spending (September)
• Other Data to Watch: S&P U.S. manufacturing PMI (October)
• Key Earnings: Palantir (PLTR), Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), Williams Companies (WMB), Simon Property Group (SPG)

Tuesday, Nov. 4

• Data Delayed by the Shutdown: Trade balance (September), factory orders (September), job openings (September)
• Key Earnings: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Shopify (SHOP), Uber Technologies (UBER), Arista Networks (ANET), Amgen (AMGN), Eaton (ETN), Pfizer (PFE), Spotify (SPOT), Ferrari (RACE), BP (BP)

Wednesday, Nov. 5

• ADP employment (October)
• Other Data to Watch: ISM services (October), S&P services PMI (October)
• Key Earnings: Toyota Motor (TM), Novo Nordisk (NVO), McDonald’s (MCD), Applovin (APP), Qualcomm (QCOM), Arm Holdings (ARM), Robinhood (HOOD), DoorDash (DASH)

Thursday, Nov. 6

• Federal Reserve Officials Speaking: Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson, St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem
• Data Delayed by the Shutdown: Initial jobless claims (Week ending Nov. 1). Labor productivity (Q3)
• Tesla shareholder meeting
• Key Earnings: AstraZeneca (AZN), ConocoPhillips (COP), Airbnb (ABNB), Vistra (VST)

Friday, Nov. 7

• Consumer sentiment (November)
• Data Delayed by the Shutdown: U.S. employment report (October)
• Other Data to Watch: Consumer credit (September)
• Federal Reserve Officials Speaking: New York Fed President John Williams
• Key Earnings: Constellation Energy (CEG), KKR (KKR), Enbridge (ENB), Duke Energy (DUK)
  

One More Thing

The Federal Reserve again cut interest rates last week, potentially leading to reductions in the rates that banks and credit unions pay on high-yield savings account deposits. Investopedia's Sabrina Karl has tips on how savvy savers can lock in better rates for months or years to come. 

ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images

AI investments and cloud growth were in the spotlight during big tech earnings last week.
Key Takeaways

• Several cloud providers forecast their capital expenditures would continue to grow—possibly at an even faster rate—next year as they build the data centers required to train and run AI models.
• AI features have unexpectedly boosted business units that, just a couple of years ago, Wall Street thought might be disrupted by the technology.
• Executives attempted to alleviate Wall Street's growing concerns about customer concentration.

Earnings season kicked into high gear last week when five of the Magnificent Seven members with a combined market value of over $15 trillion reported results.

The tech titans—Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), and Meta (META)—reported better-than-expected results across the board, and forecast their massive investments in artificial intelligence will grow in the coming year.

Below, we take a closer look at some of the key takeaways from this round of big tech earnings.

Why This Is Significant

These tech giants account for a sizable share of the U.S. stock market, making their quarterly earnings some of the most highly anticipated and consequential events on Wall Street. Their investments in artificial intelligence have also been a boon to the U.S. economy over the last year.

No AI Investment Slowdown in Sight

One thing made clear in last week's earnings calls, was that the hyperscalers’ AI investments are showing no signs of a pullback.

Amazon on Thursday raised its full-year capital expenditures forecast and said that investments will increase next year. Alphabet also bumped up its capex guidance for the third time this year and forecast another “significant” increase next year. Microsoft didn’t share a quarterly or full-year capex estimate, but CFO Amy Hood said investments will grow even faster in fiscal year 2026 than in 2025. 

Executives stressed that, despite their massive investments up to this point, they expect demand will continue to outstrip supply into next year. Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Azure, likely bore the brunt of its capacity constraints, according to Hood, who said the company has been forced to prioritize other core business offerings. She, like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, also said that their internal AI teams need more computing capacity. 

Citi analysts in a note on Thursday said they expect cloud data center capex to grow 24% in 2026, which should be a boon to semiconductor makers like Nvidia (NVDA), Broadcom (AVGO), and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

Not All AI Spending Is Good News

Spending on data centers is all well and good with Wall Street, as long as investors perceive rising profits will make it worthwhile.

Meta shares tanked on Thursday after the company posted earnings that missed estimates due to a one-time tax charge, and raised the low end of its full-year capex guidance. Meta also said it expects its capex growth will accelerate next year.

"The real focus coming out of earnings is Meta's updated view on 2026 capex and expenses as the company looks to build out an industry-leading amount of compute," JPMorgan analysts told clients in a note Thursday. "The costs for Meta are outsized relative to Google and Amazon, as those companies are larger and both have cloud businesses that provide an immediate path to Gen AI monetization, unlike for Meta,” they said. 

Higher operating costs added to Wall Street’s concerns about Meta’s AI spending. Total expenses rose 32% year-over-year in the third quarter, compared to 12% in the previous quarter, and are expected to grow even faster next year. 

Employee compensation was one of the largest contributors to rising expenses. Meta went on an AI hiring spree this year, making headlines for poaching top talent with eye-watering pay packages. That's added more pressure on Meta to find ways to cut costs. Recent reports of layoffs, including in its AI division, could point to some signs of strain in Meta's efforts to keep its spending in check.

AI May Change Businesses in Surprising Ways

In the first inning of the AI craze on Wall Street, Alphabet was often looked at as a laggard in the space. Its Bard chatbot flubbed its first public demonstration, and analysts worried that the rising popularity of chatbots from startups like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity, could spell major disruption for Google’s core search business. However, Alphabet's strong quarterly results—thanks in part to AI search features—would counter that narrative.

According to executives, Google’s AI search features, AI Overviews and AI Mode, are helping to increase search query volume, the opposite of what Wall Street expected. Google’s search revenue growth has accelerated throughout the year, rising from 10% to 12% in the second quarter, and then to 15% in the third. Executives added that Google is monetizing AI search queries at about the same rate as traditional search. 

“Search acceleration (paid clicks up 7% vs 4% in 2Q) despite OpenAI's strong usage growth suggests AI is expanding the overall ‘information’ opportunity, driving higher query volume and improving monetization,” wrote Bank of America analysts in a note on Thursday.

Executives Aren't That Worried About Concentration Risk

Some investors have become concerned in recent months that the AI boom is being fueled by a handful of companies striking very large deals.

For example, OpenAI accounted for nearly all of Oracle’s (ORCL) massive cloud computing backlog in the most recent quarter, and Nvidia said in its most recent earnings report that two direct customers accounted for almost 40% of its quarterly sales.

But Microsoft executives sought to soothe worries about concentration risks during Wednesday’s earnings call. When asked about the breadth of contracts contributing to Microsoft’s record backlog, which grew 51% to $392 billion, CFO Amy Hood said, “it covers numerous products. It covers customers of all sizes."

CEO Satya Nadella also suggested he sees broadening demand related to AI over time, telling analysts, “concentration risk gets mitigated by being thoughtful about how you really ensure the build is for the broad customer base.” The wider enterprise adoption cycle, he said, "is just starting."