Gary Cohn: AI Energy Trade Is Propping Up the Market
Former Trump NEC Director Gary Cohn says the AI energy trade is the key force preventing markets from floundering amid a broader tech selloff.
Former National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn warned Monday that financial markets would be struggling far more severely without the ongoing artificial intelligence energy trade keeping them afloat. Cohn, now serving as vice chairman at IBM, made the remarks during an appearance on CNBC's 'Squawk Box,' where he weighed in on a range of pressing economic and market issues.
Cohn pointed to the AI energy trade as a critical underpinning of current market stability, suggesting that investor enthusiasm around the infrastructure and power demands of artificial intelligence has provided a meaningful buffer against broader weakness. His comments came as tech stocks faced selling pressure, raising questions about the durability of the AI-driven rally that has defined much of the recent bull market.
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Beyond the immediate market dynamics, Cohn addressed the overall state of the AI boom and what it means for the wider economy. As a senior figure at IBM — one of the major enterprise players in the AI space — his perspective carries weight both as a market observer and as someone embedded in the industry's commercial realities.
The remarks underscore a growing debate on Wall Street about whether AI-related investments, particularly those tied to energy infrastructure buildout, represent a sustainable long-term growth driver or a concentrated pocket of speculative enthusiasm. Cohn's framing suggests he views the trade as substantive rather than purely sentiment-driven, though the tech selloff signals that not all investors share that conviction.
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