# AI CapEx Drives Record Debt Issuance

**Podcast:** Bloomberg Daybreak: US Edition
**Published:** 2026-02-10

## Transcript

Donald Trump is rewriting the Washington rule book and reshaping the global economy.
If you're trying to connect the dots behind the headlines, Bloomberg's Trumponomics podcast is here to help.
I'm Stephanie Flanders, head of government and economics at Bloomberg.
Every week I'll bring you a smart, focused conversation with reporters and experts from Washington, Wall Street, and beyond.
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Today's show is brought to you by Vanguard.
To all the financial advisors listening, let's talk bonds for a minute.
Capturing value in fixed income is not easy.
Bond markets are massive, murky, and let's be real.
Lots of firms throw a couple flashy funds your way and call it a day.
But not Vanguard.
At Vanguard, institutional quality isn't a tagline.
It's a commitment to your clients.
We're talking top grade products across the board of over 80 bond funds, actively managed by a 200 person global squad of sector specialists, analysts, and traders.
These folks live and breathe fixed income.
So if you're looking to give your clients consistent results year in and year out, go see the record for yourself at Vanguard.com slash audio.
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Here are the stories we're following today.
Karen, trading begins this morning with stocks at or near record highs, and chip companies are the ones doing some of the heavy lifting.
Let's hear more this morning from Bloomberg's John Tucker.
John, good morning.
Good morning, Nathan.
Yeah, the Dow finished at a record.
The SP 500 drove to within a few points of its record close.
But two of the strongest forces pushing the SP 500 upward.
We're NVIDIA up 2.4%.
Broadcom surged 3.3%.
Those are the beneficiaries of all that CapEx spending.
But always lingering in the background.
All right, John, thank you.
Meanwhile, Alphabet is selling sterling and Swiss franc denominated bonds for the first time, including an ultra-rare issue of a 100-year note following a $20 billion dollar deal in the U.S.
Bloomberg Tech co-anchor Caroline Hyde reports it's just the latest salvo in the AI spending spree.
You've just got hot on the heels of Oracle, having sold $25 billion of debt in the beginning of last week.
They got $129 billion dollars of demand, a record set.
You might be bracing for $400 billion dollars of investment grade debt coming to finance AI.
And Bloomberg Tech co-host Karen.
Turning to the economy now, Karen, President Trump says his pick to lead the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, could get the U.S.
economy to grow at a rate of 15%.
But if he does the job that he's capable, we can grow at 15%.
We were able to review the unredacted files.
Republican Thomas Massey says what he saw could lead to more criminal prosecutions.
The user interface is a little clunky at first, but what I saw that bothered me were the names of at least six men that have been redacted that are likely uh incriminated by their inclusion in these files.
Republican Thomas Massey was joined by Democrat Rokana.
He described those six men as, quote, very powerful people who raped these underage girls.
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Jeffrey Epstein's convicted former girlfriend Ghlaine Maxwell appeared for a video deposition before the House Oversight Committee, but it didn't last long.
We turn out to Arizona, Karen, where the investigation into the disappearance of today's show co-host Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy, is now into a second week.
Authorities are investigating the apparent kidnapping with a ransom deadline set by her purported abductors, who sent ransom notes demanding money for her return.
Savannah Guthrie released a video saying her family is at an hour of desperation.
We believe our mom is still out there.
We need your help.
Law enforcement is working tirelessly around the clock, trying to bring her home, trying to find her.
She was taken in we don't know where.
And we need your help.
Investigators believe Nancy Guthrie was taken against her will from her home.
There is growing concern about her health due to her need for daily medication and pre-existing medical conditions.
Well, over in Europe, Nathan Keir Starmer short up his position as UK Prime Minister at the end of a dramatic day in Westminster that at times seemed like he might be forced to step down.
And we get the very latest at Bloomberg's James Woolcock in London.
James, good morning.
Good morning, Karen and Nathan.
We learned yesterday that the Labour Party is deeply unhappy, but it isn't yet open to the idea of getting rid of the man in the top job.
Publicly, Cabinet Ministers backed the Prime Minister.
Labor MPs in Parliament were effusive, but privately, they told Bloomberg that challengers weren't yet ready to run rival campaigns, and said that certain ministers had, quote, bottled it.
Now, economic data is starting to improve in the UK, but political attention is left on the numbers and more on the dates.
A special election in two weeks and a local one in May, which is seen as the next crisis points.
In London, James Woolcock, Bloomberg Radier.
James, thank you.
Staying in the UK, Barclay says it'll return at least $20 billion to shareholders through 2028 as the bank continues to work through a long term plan to slash costs and improve profitability.
To hit its new targets, Sparklay says it'll make efficiency savings, including through artificial intelligence, while allocating more capital to its UK business at the expense of the investment bank.
Barclay's CEO, C.S.
Vencata Krishna, tells Bloomberg the bank is firing on all cylinders.
So I'm very happy they're all doing well.
And you know, uh each of the businesses produced double digit ROTEs in the last year, and we're expecting them to continue.
The strongest performing parts have been the ones that have come from the furthest behind, which is our U.S.
Consumer Bank, which has gone from seven percent to eleven percent, and our investment bank, which has also gone up.
At Sparklay CEO, C.S.
Vencata Krishna, the lender's earnings for last year beat expectations, helped by its best fourth quarter for traders since the reporting change in 2016.
Well, shares of luxury goods giant caring are up eleven and a half percent this morning, Nathan.
The jump came after the French firm released results that suggest it is now on a path back to growth.
Kering's key Gucci unit saw sales fall less than expected in the final months of 2025, dropping ten percent in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, annual recurring operating income at the label exceeded estimates.
Time now for a look at some of the other stories making news in New York and around the world.
And for that, we're joined by Bloomberg's Michael Barr.
Michael, good morning.
Good morning, Karen.
Nurses and two major hospital systems in New York City have reached a deal to end a nearly month-long strike over staffing levels, workplace safety, and other issues.
The tentative agreement involves Montefiore and Mount Sinai Hospital Systems.
The three-year deal still needs to be approved by union members.
Nurses remain on strike at New York Presbyterian, where Jennifer Lynch is a nurse practitioner in Upper Manhattan.
NYP was the only hospital here in New York City to uh have mass layoffs last year.
Maria Soy is a registered nurse at New York Presbyterian.
What we want people to take away is that this is more than about money.
County offices in Clark County began receiving bomb threats.
Talking about pipe bombs.
Governor DeWine called it a despicable act.
In September 2024, bomb threats rattled Springfield after then presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate J.D.
Vance doubled down on false claims that Haitian immigrants were abducting and eating pets.
Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S.
over 25 years ago.
Now a resurgence is on the rise.
Health officials blame the record breaking numbers on declining vaccination rates.
The CDC says 20 states have reported cases from California to Florida, where at least two universities have reported cases.
In South Carolina, at least 900 people have been infected.
Global News, 24 hours a day.
And whenever you want it, with the Bloomberg News Now, I'm Michael Barr and this is Bloomberg.
Karen.
Thanks, Michael.
Time now for our Bloomberg Sports Update.
And for that, we bring in John Stash Howard.
Thanks, Karen.
Arizona was a unanimous number one in college basketball.
The Wildcats took their 23-0 record to Kansas, and Arizona had an 11-point lead.
Back came the Jayhawks, took their first lead midway through the second half, and Kansas won 82 to 78.
Big fight in the NBA in Detroit's win at Charlotte.
It happened in the third quarter.
It started between Jalen Duran and the Pistons, and Musa Diavate of the Hornets.
Isaiah Stewart of the Pistons left the bench.
Four players were ejected.
That's your Bloomberg Sports Update.
Stay with us.
More from Bloomberg Daybreak.
Coming up after this.
Today's show is brought to you by Vanguard.
To all the financial advisors listening, let's talk bonds for a minute.
Capturing value and fixed income is not easy.
Bond markets are massive, murky, and let's be real.
Lots of firms throw a couple flashy funds your way and call it a day.
But not Vanguard.
At Vanguard, institutional quality isn't a tagline.
It's a commitment to your clients.
We're talking top grade products across the board of over 80 bond funds, actively managed by a 200-person global squad of sector specialists, analysts, and traders.
These folks live and breathe fixed income.
So if you're looking to give your clients consistent results year in and year out, go see the record for yourself at Vanguard.com slash audio.
That's Vanguard.com slash audio.
All investing is subject to risk.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation Distributor.
Hello, I'm Stephen Carroll.
I'm in Brussels, where many of Europe's biggest decisions get made.
And I'm Caroline Hepke in London with the hosts of the Blueberg Daybreak Europe podcast.
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And from London, I'm looking at what all that means for markets, money, and the wider economy.
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Good morning.
I'm Nathan Hager.
The market is trading close to all-time highs once again for stocks this morning after a volatile few days, particularly in the big tech sector.
This week, the attention turns to a flood of economic data, starting with retail sales out this morning.
For more, we're joined by Bloomberg News macro strategist, Adam Linton.
Adam, good morning.
Have we shaken off the worst of the uh the software sell-off?
Good morning.
Good morning, and uh, thank you for having me.
So, yeah, in terms of the software, obviously that is incredibly thematic at the moment, but we did, of course, see some signs of life in the tech sector yesterday.
However, looking at the pre market indications, it does appear some of that enthusiasm is waning.
I think it's just playing to more of a broader point that was just so much more nuance around the tech trade at the moment.
And people just have a preference to rotate out of that, given the uncertainties surrounding the landscape.
And of course, we've seen um, you know, so much attention on the um the shortage in memory chips.
It's uh leading to a lot of winners and losers.
Uh big gap there.
Yeah, definitely.
And again, it's just to playing to this point where the tech traders have become an increasingly more nuanced.
I mean, last year we saw a bit of a divide between the likes of NVIDIA and Google as some of those large language models came online.
Then, as you mentioned, we've seen some of the software, you know, plays, and now we're seeing some of the memory chip plays as well.
So this is going to play into a broader point that the NASDAQ could potentially continue to struggle relative to peers.
I mean, if you look at the NASDAQ, it's not hit a new high since October.
And then you look at the Equalite SP 500, that's hit 13 records without Nasdaq 100 hitting a single one.
So it does suggest this rotation trade as well as the tech nuance very much remains in play.
And of course, now with uh Alphabet uh tapping into the debt markets to try to uh finance its plans for 185 billion dollars in AI CapEx this year, now going global with that, with this uh hundred-year sterling note.
What could that mean for the tech sector?
Yeah, I mean, it's definitely interesting given that we saw the selling and alphabet shares off the back of some of their large CapEx plans.
But I think this is kind of refocused minds a little bit.
It shows that there is a real solid base of investors who are still willing to buy their debt.
I mean, if you take that sterling note, as you mentioned, you know, there's solid pension demand in the UK looking for that.
If UK debt markets, you know, on a sovereign level are faltering, you know, something that we have seen yesterday, then they could potentially be looking to diversify into some of these sectors.
But in terms of some of the duration, I mean, if you take like the hundred-year note that's going to be on offer, I mean, some people will bulk at that and just not turn it to that.
But there does appear to be a solid investor base willing to buy up.
And in our last 30 seconds here, we're gonna, as I mentioned, we're gonna get uh all this economic data starting with retail sales today, the delayed uh non-farm payrolls report tomorrow.
Uh, are we looking for more volatility off the back of the economic data?
Yeah, I think we definitely are.
I mean, I think retail sales could provide some reprieve.
I think, you know, we saw this message in from Hassett yesterday, flagging the potential for softer jobs data.
And if that is the case, we could see a potential pricing for March, April, which are relatively low in terms of Fed rate cut bets.
This is Bloomberg Daybreak, your morning podcast on the stories making news from Wall Street to Washington and beyond.
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