tanit boonruen/iStock through Getty Photos
Key Factors
- AI spending has reached mania ranges, ignoring the core limitations of LLMs—their statistical assemble, lack of ability to motive sequentially, and commodity-like economics. That mentioned, this cycle might finish by gradual exhaustion somewhat than dramatic collapse.
- Trump’s multifaceted reflation agenda ought to assist the broader non-AI economic system into 2026. The ending of Fed intransigence, rising coverage concentrate on housing, and deliberate financial institution capital overhaul reinforce the narrative of US financial resilience.
- Industrials stay the fund’s largest chubby. The info heart buildout extends past GPUs—there may be extra to this infrastructure than semiconductor {hardware}. Cyclical positioning captures AI spillover results with out direct publicity to unsustainable capex dynamics on the ecosystem’s core.
- The problem requires discriminating throughout divergent narratives somewhat than binary market timing. Stability and diversification are vital as a result of the AI narrative has synchronized investor conduct to an uncommon diploma, amplifying reversion threat.
The Return of Americo-Centrism
The Calamos Phineus Lengthy/Quick Fund (CPLIX) rose 1.29% in Q3 (Class I shares at NAV), in contrast with positive aspects of seven.8% and 4.4% for the S&P 500 Index and its equal-weighted brethren, respectively. Internet publicity averaged 22% by Q3, down modestly from 24% on the finish of Q2. For YTD 2025, fund NAV rose 11.36% with a median web delta-adjusted publicity of 21% (8.3% of alpha and three.1% of beta return).
Fund positioning mirrored rising conviction that AI infrastructure narratives have been approaching their apex, prompting gradual discount of momentum-driven mega-caps whereas growing publicity to pro-growth cyclicals. The lengthy portfolio generated strong returns led by the industrials chubby which benefited from the spillover results of the info heart buildout. Quick positioning proved difficult as momentum overwhelmed fundamentals.
For international traders, this race to develop AI has rejuvenated the financial and monetary dominance of the US.1 Whereas apprehension about commerce wars and stagflation has diminished since spring, a brand new nervousness has emerged: AI bubble threat. Our view: AI will both create extra losers than winners amongst at the moment’s expertise leaders, or the incremental income alternative is mightily exaggerated. Whereas a souring in investor temper is definite, timing that inflection is the problem.
The equity-funded nature of at the moment’s AI buildout—mixed with hyperscaler monopolistic money flows—might show extra resilient to conventional cost-of-capital limitations than historic expertise booms. Whereas “bubble” stays the dominant metaphor, others are doable together with “loss of life by a thousand cuts” or a gradual unwind forward. This argues for balanced publicity: decreasing focus threat in AI infrastructure whereas capturing alternatives in cyclicals benefiting from Trump’s multifaceted reflation agenda.
Again to the Future
The US fairness market’s restoration from April lows has been distinctive by any customary. Two explanations dominate: the primary is considered one of US financial resilience led by AI-driven mega-caps, the place the profitability divergence between the Magnificent Seven and the broader company world has outlined this decade. Right here, the central problem stays timing the height of investor euphoria round this super-cycle.
The second rationalization issues the revisionism of Donald Trump. All through spring, most assumed his agenda would deliver disruption. These fears weren’t mistaken, however the emphasis was misplaced: Trump 2.0 represents multifaceted reflation2 somewhat than dislocation for the US economic system. We emphasize this distinction as a result of Trump’s polarizing presence creates a polemical mud storm that obscures.
Getting into Q3, we anticipated late summer time fairness weak spot would create alternatives forward of an S&P 500 rally towards 7,000 in Q1 2026. With traders searching for pullbacks to purchase, this has confirmed consensus considering. In the meantime, the crosscurrents multiply. Monetary liquidity seems plentiful whereas financial liquidity feels tight. The Federal Reserve is “behind the curve” and an incipient development scare has emerged.
AI Every thing
The plain concern begins with the extraordinary over-investment and over-enthusiasm surrounding the AI narrative. The size of exercise3 and profitability units it other than the dot-com increase. Hyperscaler capex is working at an annual price of $400 billion and is forecast to succeed in a cumulative complete north of $3 trillion by decade’s finish—equal to 10% of US GDP. To justify these outlays, annual gross sales exceeding $1.3 trillion in 2030 should emerge from someplace.4
Think about the size: OpenAI generated ~$4 billion in H1 2025. But Oracle (ORCL)’s >$317 billion spike in RPO backlog5 within the newest quarter—pushed by OpenAI6 multi-year commitments—equates to 70% of the quarterly improve in US GDP. These firms are sinking billions of {dollars} into AI as a result of AI capabilities might erode the moats surrounding their extraordinarily worthwhile, near-monopolistic core companies.
This monopoly character of at the moment’s expertise leaders explains why all of this has developed right into a “tremendous narrative.” Spending has progressed to “no matter it takes” ranges which are unworkable for companies that require a visual path to ROIs. This crucial to guard their moats is relentless—till the incremental worth of the subsequent LLM improve not extends or fortifies their aggressive place.
This treadmill is why the fee and functionality development of GPT fashions7 is consequential. ChatGPT-3 value US $50 million to develop and launched in November 2022; ChatGPT-4 value US $500 million. ChatGPT-5, utilizing 80X extra compute and budgeted at US $5 billion8 was launched in August—it’s a relative dud. Improved in some areas, regressing in others, the expertise could also be hitting a scaling wall of diminishing returns.
Elon Musk speaks of 10x will increase in compute driving 2x enhancements in efficiency, but the newest variations have fallen off this trajectory. Equally, this tendency to have a good time accuracy enhancements on LLM benchmarks obscures a vital level: reliability charges have to be persistently above 90% or larger. The bounce from “typically works” to “dependably works” is the place business worth begins to emerge.
This limitation is inherent of their design: LLMs are statistical simulations of human textual content. The finite complexity of language itself constrains how a lot these fashions can enhance. Their statistical assemble9 is why LLMs battle to play chess regardless of “realizing” all the things written about chess. They battle with the sequential logic inherent in fixing issues like counting duties, fundamental algebra, map labelling and related reasoning chains.
Amidst the hyperbole round employee alternative, LLMs can not manipulate representations of area, time, numbers, causality and sequence, or bodily objects. With out these, they’re mimicry instruments with peripheral software. By peripheral, we consult with the divide between performance and worth: asking the fitting query versus any query.10
What are LLMs good at? By producing statistically seemingly generic responses, they excel at commonplace duties like homework11 and fundamental software program code. They falter when required to generate novel or advanced outcomes. Fairly than producing new or monetizable software program options, LLM-assisted coding primarily reduces prices and results in decreased commerciality throughout conventional software program functions .
LLMs might be essential private productiveness instruments. But retrieving and synthesizing present information differs from reasoning and creation. LLMs are like prompt entry to the fitting encyclopedia entry —a priceless functionality, however one with constrained business potential. Recombining codified information is inherently troublesome to monetize at scale.
One other problem: not like most digital companies, LLM bills don’t decline with scale. Netflix (NFLX) exemplifies these scale economies: the incremental value of streaming content material to a further subscriber is close to zero. In distinction, LLMs function inversely: extra coaching and inference masses contain substantial incremental prices within the type of larger GPU utilization.12
With their generic non-proprietary output, rivals can match incremental LLM enhancements inside months and with much less compute energy.13 The result’s excessive worth elasticity: any LLM that costs its service to get well the event or working prices will lose share to lower-cost followers. These companies are much less software-like and extra like capital-intensive commodity producers—suppose utilities.
Many hope that the “human like” intelligence of LLMs can overcome these limitations with a breakthrough business software. But the character of LLM output creates the identical drawback as for the calculator: all solutions are non-proprietary. Distinction this to Netflix, which has a ~$500 billion market capitalization constructed on ~$ 45 billion in subscriptions with 300 million households as a result of its content material cannot be copied .
Fairly than viewing LLMs because the second coming of the web, one other analogy could also be OpenSource 2.0. Linux and related initiatives put advances in code within the public area (a lot as AI coding guarantees to do), but did not generate priceless stand-alone companies. The biggest opensource enterprise Pink Hat was offered to IBM (IBM) for $32 billion 20 years later, a far cry from OpenAI’s most up-to-date $500 billion valuation.
The Capex Endgame
Historical past offers an instructive parallel. Immediately’s AI buildout echoes the capex increase of the late-Nineteen Nineties period. The scaling of web and cellular telephony was central to sustaining “blue sky” expectations and related valuations, however the emergence of price-elastic capability ended the cycle. The sample recurs throughout general-purpose applied sciences—from railways and electrical energy to radio, semiconductors, and the web.
These eras did not finish as a result of the dream fell quick; they burst when the price of capital started to rise. And the triggers for larger capital prices will be distinct from tighter financial coverage, together with regulation (cures ruling in Google’s antitrust case), elevated competitors (DeepSeek and open-source approaches), or consumers changing into extra discriminating.
Outdoors NVIDIA, the AI ecosystem14 is materially unprofitable. OpenAI will lose an estimated US $14 billion in 2025 assuming losses don’t speed up with extra use of ChatGPT5. Anthropic faces the identical problem—shedding greater than 100% of income. The bizarre intervention of NVIDIA, investing billions in fairness immediately into its largest prospects alerts that funding on the required scale is changing into more durable.
Assumptions round future profitability are essentially delicate to the inputs: Blackwell chip prices, electrical energy, financing, and GPU rental costs. Notably, NVIDIA extracts monumental lease from the trade;15 its unprecedented 80% gross margin (versus a extra typical 50%) exacerbates the funding problem. With its beautiful returns, NVIDIA is strongly incentivized to maintain the ecosystem afloat.
To this point, the trade has been inventive in overcoming its monetary challenges. GPU purchases are depreciated over six years versus a sub-two-year launch cycle at NVIDIA.16 H100 rental costs have declined from $8/hour in Q2 2023 to lower than $2/hour in 2025, but the neo-clouds have raised debt backed by GPUs as collateral. Hyperscalers provide cloud providers in alternate for fairness within the LLM suppliers.
This circularity of AI funding, with distributors like NVIDIA investing in prospects and prospects receiving warrants in suppliers echoes the cross-shareholding of Japan’s “keiretsu” mannequin, which inspires trade cooperation. That is vital given the complexity of at the moment’s GPU. The vulnerability: win-win preparations develop into lose-lose when issues go unsuitable. Sam Altman’s success is now everyone’s enterprise; one cancelled undertaking can develop into everyone’s drawback.
For now, at the moment’s spending enjoys a optimistic suggestions loop between rising funding and rising earnings. AI infrastructure sellers like NVIDIA acknowledge earnings instantly, whereas consumers just like the hyperscalers depreciate such spending over years somewhat than up entrance. This dynamic works due to the monopoly-like traits that underpin money flows—service high quality and stability sheets will be degraded with little consequence.17
Till the “losers of AI” emerge, the spending occasion continues.18 OpenAI’s inner projections level to revenues of $200 billion in 2030, with profitability materializing dramatically as margins inflect from -25% in 2028 to +25% in 2030. Such trajectory is conceivable in a low-variable value mannequin, however not often one as capital intensive as AI-related functions seem like.19
All of this reveals the underbelly of at the moment’s ‘strategic spending struggle’. The justification is that AI “will do everybody’s work,” and a few have introduced AI-related job cuts. However that is extra euphemism than actuality—obfuscating the rising monetary strain of constructing this infrastructure.20 As importantly, the moats of Meta (META) and Alphabet (GOOGL) are funded by cyclical promoting revenues now beneath menace.
This interpretation explains why Apple (AAPL) has neither constructed nor invested in an LLM. Its monopoly rests on its App Retailer and iOS, and it does not want an LLM to divert site visitors: customers are locked onto their platform with the acquisition of an iPhone. Apple feels much less susceptible to LLM disruption than Amazon, Google or Meta. For related causes, Microsoft will be extra disciplined throughout the AI narrative.
Our conclusion: AI will both create extra losers than winners amongst at the moment’s expertise leaders, or the incremental income alternative is mightily exaggerated. Each level to an inevitable slowdown of spending. Whereas a souring in investor temper is definite, timing that inflection is the problem.21
Till that reckoning arrives, traders will run with the herd. The sample is acquainted: banks did so forward of the World Monetary Disaster; the European telecoms did so within the late Nineteen Nineties once they catastrophically overbid for 3G licenses. Recognizing a mania does not immunize from its continuation—momentum by definition overwhelms fundamentals till it does not.
However recognition serves as a cautionary sign for portfolio building, notably relating to focus threat in AI infrastructure beneficiaries. This vulnerability is broadly understood and uncontroversial. But traders should nonetheless grapple with the suitable framework for his or her risk-adjusted positioning amidst these ahistorical narratives.
The Silver Lining
Paradoxically, extra capex is central to the adoption of transformative applied sciences. Euphoria lowers the price of capital, permitting a extra fast buildout than regular economics may assist. As essentially the most priceless firm on the planet with its low value of capital, NVIDIA is incentivized to maintain the occasion going. Its fast product cadence is a prisoner’s dilemma for the hyperscalers, amplifying the cycle.
When bubbles burst, extra capability does not disappear—it may be acquired at low costs by new or stronger gamers. This Schumpeterian destruction is inherent to expertise manias and capitalism itself, giving extra entry to new capability at decrease costs than if the increase endured . This final result ensures the expertise turns into embedded throughout society—however after the destruction unfolds.
The excellent news is that the AI build-out has to this point been a largely fairness funded phenomenon, which differs from the capex booms which have extra unfavorable penalties as a result of they’re debt financed. Not like the 2008 disaster, the coverage and financial response might comply with the 2000 playbook: fairness benchmarks undergo, however harm to broader exercise is much less deleterious as a result of rates of interest fall and assist home consumption.
Immediately’s ‘bubble’ metaphor subsequently requires care.
Bubbles conjure a “burst,” implying that timing is paramount and a day late prices dearly. But a lot of at the moment’s spending is funded by the hyperscalers’ monumental money flows—financing much less delicate to conventional cost-of-capital shocks. Whilst sentiment shifts or climaxes, these spending commitments can maintain momentum for the economic system within the coming yr.
This argues for a unique metaphor, one the place deterioration unfolds by time or length somewhat than sudden dislocation: “loss of life by a thousand cuts”. AI equities might drift over quarters or years, exhaustion punctuated by failed rallies that appeal to fewer believers every time. This was how the bear market in crypto unfolded in 2021/2022.
In sum, the absence of leverage implies outcomes which are “much less unhealthy” for Fundamental Road, which is why Trump’s agenda might show decisive. With out predicting when the increase ends, or whether or not it ends badly, historical past implies that because the financial significance of AI turns into clearer, the valuations of AI-linked shares ought to fall. That’s our assumption for 2026.
Trump 2.0: The Agitation That By no means Rests
This narrative of rising threat for the dominant a part of the fairness world is conjoined with a second narrative: multifaceted reflation for the broader economic system after years of revenue recession. Right here, traders should filter a deluge of over-politicized commentary. Apprehension in regards to the stagflation penalties of Trump’s agenda has to this point confirmed exaggerated.
Segments of the US economic system are beneath stress, but macroeconomic figures have unfolded largely in response to pattern. In the meantime, Trump has eliminated the roadblock of Fed intransigence. The recommencement of easing by the Federal Reserve and the administration’s concentrate on housing argues that the broader non-AI economic system has assist into 2026.
Whereas AI has underpinned the resilience of 2025, it has equally given rise to a “two-speed”22 economic system. Fortuitously, that is helpful for US fairness property: it permits the presumption of financial reflation even within the context of strong client incomes and cussed inflation. Equally essential, the inflation math of upper tariffs has been mitigated by excessive elasticities of demand, substitution results, and US greenback resilience.
Within the absence of a sudden finish to the AI impulse, spillover into the non-technology areas factors to revived management by cyclical elements of the market. Put merely, there may be extra to an information heart enterprise than a GPU, together with a number of cyclical alternatives that may assist counter mega-cap focus threat. The problem lies in managing publicity to each narratives whereas discriminating throughout their differing threat profiles.
A dynamic liquidity setting dominates the backdrop. The well being of personal sector stability sheets is manifest, whereas innovation throughout the fintech world (together with stablecoins, digital currencies, and crypto) rhymes with previous episodes of non-bank credit score creation. These improvements have traditionally been stimulative for the broader economic system, reinforcing investor enthusiasm for risk-taking.
And extra “agitation”: the Trump administration is planning the most important overhaul of US financial institution capital guidelines for the reason that World Monetary Disaster. This elimination of leverage constraints permits banks to finance the US deficit and financial development. As one other type of financial easing, a recessionary contraction in credit score is more durable to examine, once more supporting the outlook.
Markets are having fun with this confluence of optimistic narratives. But a lot relies upon moderating financial exercise—sluggish sufficient to assist Fed price cuts, however not a lot as to pressure company earnings. This slender path would usually immediate a wider debate amongst traders, but the AI narrative is synchronizing conduct to an uncommon diploma.
This highlights the bizarre character of at the moment’s funding setting. Markets are “environment friendly” once they combination various viewpoints (lengthy versus quick horizons, basic versus technical approaches, development versus worth, and so on.). In 2025, range has been overwhelmed by sentiment across the AI narrative—all seen within the outsized affect of the momentum fashion.
When traders interact in an excessive amount of ‘imitation’ and sentiment turns into uniform, this range is misplaced and markets develop into susceptible to episodic, massive strikes.
This argues for balanced portfolio positioning: growing wariness towards AI-driven momentum shares, however wholesome publicity to pro-growth cyclicals on the belief of sustained US enlargement.
Abstract
The Momentum of Americo-Centrism
2025 might be remembered because the yr wherein the AI narrative grew to become an funding increase, if not a mania. Solely in America might such substantive quantities of personal capital be mobilized so quickly in assist of innovation. As importantly, it has been supported by US policymakers if solely as a result of this nascent trade is essential to the Sino-American arms race.
For international traders, this race to develop AI has rejuvenated the financial and monetary dominance of the US. 23 Whereas apprehension about commerce wars and stagflation has diminished since spring, a brand new nervousness has emerged: AI bubble threat. Right here, referencing the dot-com mania of the late Nineteen Nineties is irresistible as a result of many grasp the inevitable misallocation of capital. Much less clear is what comes subsequent.
The benign view is that bubble nervousness is simply the newest avatar of the wall of fear accompanying all bull markets. Certainly, that is how technological progress has all the time unfolded in a capitalist system. The conundrum is that the US market has develop into the sufferer of its personal success: so internationally dominant and so comparatively costly that it inevitably generates some type of nervousness.
Many search options to this dominance and to the US greenback, and but nothing compares with the growth-oriented tradition of America and its dependable backstop of demand.24 The place pockets of abroad outperformance have emerged, these are cyclical worth conditions which are one other spinoff of US reflation. Their economies are too precarious to maintain investor confidence within the absence of benign American affect.
The lacking attribute for these economies that may problem American management is the US client. Who can be the client of world manufacturing, if not America? Protectionist India? Impoverished Russia? Or a China whose management obsession stymies the emergence of a affluent, unbiased center class? And but, a part of the funding trade causes as if we’re nonetheless in a globalizing world.
Debasement has develop into a well-liked and indiscriminate cry throughout the monetary world. No Western authorities in any main economic system is prepared to arrest the rise of sovereign indebtedness.25 Excessive ranges of public debt, fiscal dominance, and the retreat of globalization would usually give rise to an inflation bias. This return of a time period premium26 throughout equities and bonds feels inevitable. It’s a threat for 2026.
Buyers really feel they’ve little alternative however to embrace this Americo-Centrism. For now, the “two pace” US economic system is useful as a result of it provides rise to financial reflation as does the exit of Chair Powell in spring. But the ability of the AI narrative blinds traders to the draw back tails. We advise stability and diversification throughout shopper portfolios.
Michael Grant, Co-CIO
Fund Exposures and Attribution
After the exceptional restoration from the April lows, we felt equities entered late summer time from a place of vulnerability. Fairness exposures have subsequently been contained, averaging 21% web by the quarter comprised of a median gross lengthy and quick publicity of 83% and -62%, respectively. That is modestly beneath the 28% common since inception in 2002.
Buyers seem more and more complacent in regards to the evolution of AI, and the diploma to which a rise in systemic threat might ultimately begin weighing on valuations. Historic parallels are quite a few—together with the dot-com bubble and housing increase—and serve to remind that the brand new economic system firms might want to develop materially to beat extra normalized low cost charges.
With out presuming how the spending increase ends, or whether or not it ends badly, historical past argues that because the financial significance of AI turns into clearer, the valuations of AI-linked shares ought to compress. In different phrases, as traders develop into extra sure about how large this turns into, the identical systemic threat as that embedded within the “outdated economic system” raises the low cost price.
Inventory choice inside the lengthy portfolio was sufficiently robust to offset the headwind of underweighting the Mega-caps. Lengthy positions contributed 6.4% in Q3, almost matching the 6.6% return {that a} related S&P 500 publicity would generate. The quick guide detracted -5.1%, pushed virtually completely by index hedges and, to a lesser extent, Apple (-29 bps).
The fund elevated lengthy publicity to conventional cyclicals together with industrials (+4.0%), client discretionary (+2.6%), and supplies (+2.3%) whereas decreasing expertise (-2.7%), healthcare (-1.3%), and client staples (-0.8%). By way of the July launch season, inventory reactions usually mirrored positioning excesses somewhat than basic surprises.
Calamos Phineus Lengthy/Quick Fund (CPLIX)
Returns by Technique
Q3 Returns by Sector (Lengthy Technique)
Common Delta Adjusted Internet Publicity by Sector
Authentic Submit
Editor’s Word: The abstract bullets for this text have been chosen by Searching for Alpha editors.

