Summary

SoFi CEO Anthony Noto joins Squawk on the Street after the stock tumbles despite record quarterly net revenue, explaining the results and outlook for the fintech company. Plus, AI skeptic Ed Zitron weighs in on Mark Zuckerberg’s warning that artificial intelligence power is becoming too concentrated among a handful of frontier labs. And we examine the vol…

Key takeaways

• The Fed faces a credible case for a surprise rate hike—with inflation above the 2% target, a resilient labor market, and Chair Warsh explicitly rejecting forward guidance—though markets are pricing only a ~26-30% probability of action.
• SoFi posted 40% revenue growth and 30% EBITDA margins but held EPS guidance flat due to two assumed rate hikes (vs. two cuts at year-start) and accelerated investment in SoFi USD stablecoin and big business banking, signaling a deliberate growth-over-earnings trade-off.
• AI investment skepticism is rising: Partners Group estimates $175M in EBITDA uplift from AI across portfolio companies, while analyst Ed Zitron argues Meta's LLaMA models are 'also-ran' products with no disclosed AI revenue ROI despite ~$78B+ in cumulative capex.

Why this matters

A potential Fed rate hike surprise under Chair Warsh would reset market expectations around central bank predictability, tighten financial conditions, and pressure high-multiple fintech and tech valuations at a moment when AI capex cycles and geopolitical oil shocks are already straining corporate earnings outlooks.

Entities

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Show notes

SoFi CEO Anthony Noto joins Squawk on the Street after the stock tumbles despite record quarterly net revenue, explaining the results and outlook for the fintech company. Plus, AI skeptic Ed Zitron weighs in on Mark Zuckerberg’s warning that artificial intelligence power is becoming too concentrated among a handful of frontier labs. And we examine the volatile memory-chip trade as SK Hynix reverses higher following a 250% surge in revenue. Squawk on the Street Disclaimer Hosted by Simplecast, an

Themes

• artificial-intelligence
• investing