LIVE MARKETS — The capex boom, minus AI

(Adds blog post) STOXX 600 up 1.1%, tech leads, up 2.2% Wall St futures up Funds cut bearish bets on Japan's yen in latest week BofA crunch numbers on AI capex spending Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at. The Capex Boom, Minus Ai Nobody will be surprised to learn that artificial intelligence is driving much of today's global investment boom — what's interesting is just how much of it. BofA Global Research crunched the numbers and found that, excluding spending by U.S. hyperscalers and a handful of semiconductor companies, global capital spending growth would look more like a conventional investment cycle. Excluding the AI spenders, BofA sees global capex growth of 6% in both 2026 and 2027, slowing to just 1% in 2028. Include them, and the figures jump to 29%, 22% and 6%, respectively. "Non-AI related growth remains in line with history at best," analysts at the bank write. The regional breakdown tells a similar story. The Americas are forecast to post capex growth of 44% in 2026, while Asia Pacific is expected to grow by 13%. In EMEA, where exposure to data-centre investment is lower.