Global fund managers are signaling a historic reversal in sentiment regarding corporate spending, driven primarily by concerns over the aggressive pace and financing of the artificial intelligence (AI) capital expenditure boom. According to the latest Bank of America (BofA) Global Fund Manager Survey (FMS) conducted Nov. 7-13, investors have warned companies are “overinvesting” for the first time in two decades.
The survey of 202 panelists managing $550 billion in assets under management (AUM) revealed a net 20% of FMS investors now believe companies are deploying capital too aggressively—a sentiment not observed since August 2005. This dramatic shift is explicitly linked to the “magnitude & financing of the AI capex boom,” according to Bank of America Research.
The findings are especially resonant the day before Nvidia, the most valuable company in the world and the face (along with the still-private OpenAI) of what “Bond King” Jeffrey Gundlach called “a mania” earlier in the week, is due to report earnings.
Fortune‘s Shawn Tully reported Nvidia is facing small, but increasing skepticism among Wall Street analysts, with “cracks appearing” in its strategy. Shalett told Fortune in early October she was “very concerned” about what she was seeing in the AI space, with circular financing and market concentration among her concerns.
