Let's bring in our first guest in the broadcast, longtime friend of ours here on Taking Stock, Melissa Otto, head of visible Alpha Research at S&P Global.
Melissa, thank you for being here to kick off the broadcast, as always.
We got all-time highs for tech, for the Russell, for the S&P 500.
I'll let you kick things off.
Where do you want to start as you look at another history setting day?
HeyJD, happy Friday.
What an exciting week it's been.
For me, the standout was really Google and their cloud business.
I mean, what a beat they had on both the top line and operating profit lines.
That business is firing on all cylinders and drove the outperformance this quarter.
What's exciting about that is I think this is the really, really the first evidence that we're seeing an ROI coming from.
The massive cap expan that the company is having, and it's trickling right into that Google Cloud business, however, For the other cloud providers, those numbers were more or less in line with expectations.
Still a strong quarter by Amazon and Microsoft, but not the, the, the blowout that we saw at Google Cloud.
Does that CapX enthusiasm therefore stretch to a few of these other names that we also heard results from the last few days, Melissa, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon?
What else has been on your radar?
It's been a busy 48 hours.
It certainly has.
I haven't slept.
I would say, you know, Apple was really interesting, you know, in the sense that, you know, they talked about some of the, the, the real demand coming into iPhone and for the new Mac.
Uh, the new Mac models, which was exciting, that could potentially be very, uh, good news for the second half of the year, particularly when we have back to school and holiday spending.
Those two quarters tend to be very important for, for Apple.
It'll be interesting to see if we see compelling upward revisions there.
The, the second thing too is that the company spoke about.
Really focusing on their artificial intelligence strategy.
It'll be exciting to see if we start to see much broader adoption there, if that could be that catalyst we're looking for, for, for consumers to really upgrade their hardware.
CEO transition with incoming hardware chief, former hardware chief, incoming CEO John Turnus also top of mind for Apple investors.
Melissa, I want to get your take on the Fed.
It's the first time you and I have spoken since we had Jerome Powell up there at the podium on Wednesday, I think that was Wednesday.
They all blend together for a week like this, but saying, Hey, I'm staying on as a Fed governor.
What do you make of that decision we heard from outgoing chairman Jerome Powell and how does all this set the stage for incoming chairman Kevin?
It's certainly fascinating.
I mean, he wants to continue to have a seat at the table and and ensure that the transition is smooth.
He's got a lot of, a lot invested in what has happened over the past several years since he's taken over the role as chairman, and I think, you know, wants to ensure we have a smooth transition and that the Fed continues to remain independent.
All right, we'll have to leave it there.
Melissa Otto, uh, you were very generous to adjust the production plans to still be able to join us on this Friday afternoon.
Very grateful for your time as always.
Melissa Otto, head of visible Alpha Research at S&P Global, my friend, take good care.
We'll talk to you soon.
Enjoy your weekend.
