Markets test biotech promise and AI’s trillion-dollar ambitions

The brief

Travis Holy, Lou Whiteman, and Jim Gillies begin with the bond market’s power over borrowing costs, arguing that debt supply, deficits, and higher discount rates shape valuations beyond policymakers’ control.

Moderna and Merck’s phase-three cancer-vaccine results offer a potentially important medical breakthrough, but the hosts stress uncertain biotech outcomes and the possibility that investors have already priced in the optimism.

The valuation game turns to Anthropic, OpenAI, Bitcoin, Disney, and Tesla, testing how much future growth, cash flow, utility, or brand strength investors should pay for today.

Data centers face backlash over their footprint, resource demands, incentives, and perceived arrogance, raising a practical question: can AI infrastructure win communities over before it expands further?

Peloton and Union Pacific close the discussion as contrasting ideas: one a possible turnaround beneath a collapsed stock price, the other a railroad merger facing regulatory and political risk.