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IrelandAI selloff puts earnings and data-center spending under scrutiny
Barry Ritholtz tells Bloomberg that uncertainty is nothing new, but slowing earnings growth and money diverted into AI deserve attention.
Bloomberg Podcasts
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 244,252 views a day, 106 times a normal first day on this channel (2,296).
Stocks Plunge as Traders Dump Everything With AI Exposure
Things we can learn from the video
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- 0:00Ritholtz connects overnight market moves with state ballot measures concerning restrictions on data centers.
- 1:40He argues uncertainty is constant, while investors' willingness to acknowledge it changes.
- 3:25Slower earnings growth could make elevated stock valuations harder to sustain.
- 4:06Heavy AI investment can divert money from other sectors rather than add entirely new spending.
- 5:20He weighs consumer spending, tariffs, geopolitical risks and potential data-center restrictions when considering opportunities beyond AI.
AI spending has a cost. In Bloomberg's coverage of Thursday's technology-stock selloff, Barry Ritholtz argues that the enormous sums going into artificial intelligence can leave other parts of the economy short of investment. That money does not simply appear: some of it moves away from other businesses.
The interview, posted by Bloomberg Podcasts as "Stocks Plunge as Traders Dump Everything With AI Exposure," drew about 157,000 views in ten hours, already far beyond the channel's usual first-day audience for regular videos.
The immediate backdrop is the Democratic midterm sweep and investors' concerns about possible restrictions on cloud data centers. But Ritholtz, founder of Ritholtz Wealth Management and host of Masters in Business, pushes back against the idea that markets have suddenly entered an unusually unknowable future.
"We don't know what the hell the future is going to bring," he says. "What changes is our ability to lie to ourselves about it."
His more concrete concern is whether corporate earnings can keep pace with stock prices. If earnings growth slows sharply, he explains, the prices investors are willing to pay become harder to sustain. Stocks may need time for the businesses underneath them to catch up.
Asked where to look beyond AI and data centers, Ritholtz points to strength in energy and weighs tariffs, geopolitical risks and the consumer. On that last subject, his answer is characteristically plain: "I never want to bet against US consumers spending. They tend to spend no matter what's going on."
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- Channel
- Bloomberg Podcasts
- Subscribers
- 611,000 ▲ 7,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 3,254,342
- Channel views, pace per day
- 250,999 (on a normal day: 454,250)
- Video published
- November 5, 2026
- Video views so far
- 156,631 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 244,252
The numbers
The selloff interview reached far more viewers in its opening hours than a regular Bloomberg Podcasts upload usually reaches on its first day.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which Bloomberg podcast does Barry Ritholtz host?
Bloomberg identifies Ritholtz as the host of Masters in Business.