{"id":689594,"date":"2026-06-07T10:23:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T10:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/689594\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T10:23:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T10:23:30","slug":"the-ai-trade-is-global","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/689594\/","title":{"rendered":"The AI Trade is Global"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted June 5, 2026 by Ben Carlson<\/a><\/p>\n

When you live through a technological innovation boom it\u2019s impossible to avoid trying to predict how it will turn out.<\/p>\n

Will anyone be right about what the future of AI looks like?<\/p>\n

Probably not.<\/p>\n

Here are some of my current AI predictions about the world at large:<\/p>\n

I think we\u2019re going to see an explosion in new business formation.
\nI think some industries\/roles will be materially impacted but most of us will simply do more work because of AI. We\u2019re a busy culture.
\nI think many awkward relationships will develop between humans and machines.
\nI think AI will make some people smarter but most people dumber as skills atrophy.
\nI think wealth inequality will get worse.
\nI think AI is going to flatten the world in terms of economic opportunities.<\/p>\n

That last one is already showing up in some ways when you look at stock markets around the globe.<\/p>\n

This is not just a story about the Mag 7 or Nasdaq 100 anymore. The AI trade has gone global.<\/p>\n

JP Morgan\u2019s Michael Cembalest<\/a> compared a basket of Chinese AI stocks to a basket of AI stocks in the S&P 500:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Since the start of 2024, emerging markets have been neck-and-neck with the Nasdaq 100:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It helps when you have two countries \u2014 South Korea and Taiwan1 \u2014 that now make up half of the index with returns like this:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In the past 12 months, South Korea is up almost 180%. Taiwan is up more than 100%. In that same time the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 are up 25% and 34%, respectively.<\/p>\n

These markets are heavily concentrated in stocks that are part of the AI buildout \u2014 SK Hynix, Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor all make up more than 20% in these country stock markets. The U.S. stock market might seem concentrated but stock markets in other countries are far more top heavy.<\/p>\n

China is also up almost 60% over the past year. Japan is up 28%. Thailand is up 41%.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if this will last. Friday saw a big reversal in many of the hottest markets.<\/p>\n

But the U.S. stock market was the only game in town for 10+ years. That\u2019s not the case anymore.<\/p>\n

Maybe America will continue to dominate the financial markets from here but it\u2019s worth considering the possibility that AI is going to level the playing field.<\/p>\n

The hope is this will also induce households abroad to invest more money in the stock market. Paul Kedrosky<\/a> has a chart that shows the percentage of households that own stocks:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hopefully AI will bring more people into the stock market.<\/p>\n

Michael and I talked about the global AI trade and a lot more on this week\u2019s Animal Spirits video:<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/p>\n

Subscribe to The Compound<\/a> so you never miss an episode.<\/p>\n

Further Reading:
The Winners Write the History Books<\/a><\/p>\n

Now here\u2019s what I\u2019ve been reading lately:<\/p>\n

Books:<\/p>\n

Podcast book tour:<\/p>\n

1These numbers were even better before South Korea fell 14% and Taiwan dropped 7% on Friday.<\/p>\n

This content, which contains security-related opinions and\/or information, is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon in any manner as professional advice, or an endorsement of any practices, products or services. There can be no guarantees or assurances that the views expressed here will be applicable for any particular facts or circumstances, and should not be relied upon in any manner. You should consult your own advisers as to legal, business, tax, and other related matters concerning any investment.<\/p>\n

The commentary in this \u201cpost\u201d (including any related blog, podcasts, videos, and social media) reflects the personal opinions, viewpoints, and analyses of the Ritholtz Wealth Management employees providing such comments, and should not be regarded the views of Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC. or its respective affiliates or as a description of advisory services provided by Ritholtz Wealth Management or performance returns of any Ritholtz Wealth Management Investments client.<\/p>\n

References to any securities or digital assets, or performance data, are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and\/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others.<\/p>\n

The Compound Media, Inc., an affiliate of Ritholtz Wealth Management, receives payment from various entities for advertisements in affiliated podcasts, blogs and emails. Inclusion of such advertisements does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation thereof, or any affiliation therewith, by the Content Creator or by Ritholtz Wealth Management or any of its employees. Investments in securities involve the risk of loss. For additional advertisement disclaimers see here: https:\/\/www.ritholtzwealth.com\/advertising-disclaimers<\/p>\n

Please see disclosures here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Posted June 5, 2026 by Ben Carlson When you live through a technological innovation boom it\u2019s impossible to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[182,181,507,74],"class_list":["post-689594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}