Only 3% Pay for AI as S&P 500 Trio Enters

Damodaran argues that calls to keep the trillion‑dollar private firms out of the S&P 500 are driven by active managers, academics, and politicians fearing exposure and perceived unfairness. Including them would reshape index composition, boost passive fund exposure, and force investors to reckon with companies that still burn cash. The debate has real consequences for retirement portfolios.

AI-driven memory chip scarcity is forcing Apple and Microsoft to raise device prices, but it’s the smaller makers feeling the squeeze. Companies like GoPro and Sonos face margin collapse as DRAM costs have jumped 80‑115%, threatening their survival. The crisis could reshape the consumer‑electronics landscape beyond the giants.

New Fed analysis shows high‑income households now drive almost 60% of U.S. consumer spending, while the bottom 80% cover just 42%. The gap stems from rapidly rising wealth for the rich and higher inflation burden on lower earners, cementing a K‑shaped recovery.

President Trump announced via social media that any EU nation imposing a digital services tax will face a 100% import tariff, overriding the newly‑finalized U.S., EU trade pact. The threat comes as Europe had just met a July‑4 deadline to cut U.S. tariffs, raising immediate concerns for tech exporters and market volatility.

Bank of America’s latest analysis finds just 3% of US households pay for AI services, with a median spend of $20 a month. Payments rose 38% since mid‑2025 and could lift the market to $75 billion annually, but the tiny subscriber base highlights a long wait for ROI on tech firms’ massive AI capex.

Z.ai’s open‑source GLM‑5.2 model matches Claude Opus 4.8 on long‑code benchmarks while running entirely on Huawei Ascend chips. The 1‑million‑token context window makes it a viable daily‑driver for developers, challenging the dominance of Western closed‑source AI. Its release puts pressure on the Nvidia‑centric AI supply chain and could shift market dynamics.