Neil Dutta at Renaissance Macro flagged this eye-popping stat after the advance release of second-quarter US GDP data:<\/p>\n
\u201cSo far this year, AI capex, which we define as information processing equipment plus software has added more to GDP growth than consumers\u2019 spending,\u201d he tweeted<\/a>.<\/p>\n The US consumer makes up about 70% of the economy. Over the long term, that\u2019s been the undisputed engine of growth. But these two segments that make up 6% of GDP have been playing a bigger role in fueling the expansion so far this year, on average.<\/p>\n I am among the bigger \u201cthe stock market IS the economy<\/a>\u201d people you will ever meet (because I enjoy holding views grounded in data).<\/p>\n But I was beginning to question that a little in light of some of the bifurcation in the stock market, with some more consumer-oriented stocks (Chipotle and UPS, for instance) plummeting after earnings versus the continued strength in AI-linked names. All the while, the S&P 500 continued to grind higher to fresh record highs.<\/p>\n