Big tech results show investor demand for payoffs from heavy AI spending

Meta wowed Wall Street with improvements in ad targeting fueled by AI alongside huge investment. Big tech earnings so far this week have sent a clear warning: investors are willing to overlook soaring spending on artificial intelligence if it fuels strong growth, but are quick to punish companies that fall short. The contrast was clear in Thursday's stock market reaction to earnings from Microsoft and Meta, highlighting how dramatically the stakes have changed since the launch of ChatGPT started the AI boom more than three years ago. Shares of the Instagram parent surged more than 9% on strong sales, while those of Microsoft slumped 10% after its cloud business failed to impress. "The market appears to be questioning whether these massive capital expenditure hikes will generate sufficient returns," said Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com.