Navigating the AI-led stock market

Watch on YouTube ↗  |  May 07, 2026 at 16:54  |  10:15  |  CNBC
Speakers
Josh Brown — CEO, Ritholtz Wealth Management
Carrie Firestone — Investment Committee Member

Summary

The Investment Committee debates whether AI stocks can sustain the market rally. Josh Brown sees a broadening into software names, while Malcolm Etheridge warns the AI capex story is fragile. Rob Kitchin remains constructive on earnings momentum.

  • The Nasdaq continues to hit record highs, driven by mega-cap tech.
  • Retail buying in tech reached a one-year high according to J.P. Morgan.
  • Paul Tudor Jones compares the AI buildout to the internet era, predicting 1-2 more years of gains.
  • Josh Brown highlights that beaten-down software names are leading the rally, citing the IGV's four-week winning streak.
  • Malcolm Etheridge cautions that AI spending is based on unverified commitments from private companies, risking a crash.
  • Rob Kitchin remains bullish on earnings growth and sees the AI buildout as early-stage with years of runway.
  • Market concentration in five tech stocks is at an all-time high, raising fragility concerns.
Trade Ideas
Josh Brown CEO, Ritholtz Wealth Management 2:30
Software names are leading higher
Beaten-down software names at a 20-40% discount from prior highs are leading the rally, with the IGV posting four straight weeks of gains. This broadening of market leadership away from just AI capex stocks is positive for sentiment and suggests further upside in the software sector.
IGV MED
Malcolm Ethridge CIC Wealth Executive Vice President 6:26
AI hyperscaler stocks could crash
The massive AI capex backlogs at Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle are heavily dependent on spending commitments from OpenAI and Anthropic, which are private and may not meet revenue expectations when they go public. This makes the entire AI infrastructure buildout fragile, and the stocks could crash when the truth comes out. The rally may only have one year left.
AMZN MSFT GOOGL ORCL HIGH
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This CNBC video, published May 07, 2026, features Josh Brown, Malcolm Ethridge discussing IGV, AMZN, MSFT, GOOGL, ORCL. 2 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: Josh Brown, Malcolm Ethridge  · Tickers: IGV, AMZN, MSFT, GOOGL, ORCL