Alphabet Faces the AI Spending Test

Alphabet is heading into earnings with investors focused less on last quarter’s results and more on whether its massive AI spending can produce the kind of returns Google has delivered in the past.Chuck Zodda and Marc Fandetti break down why Alphabet’s cloud growth, capital spending plans, and return on invested capital matter as the company pours more money into data centers and AI infrastructure. They also discuss rising oil and diesel prices, shrinking U.S. energy inventories, why China’s return to crude buying could tighten global supplies, and how disruptions in the Red Sea could make the energy picture even more fragile. Plus, Todd Lutsky joins for Ask Todd to explain how irrevocable trusts work, how a home is transferred into a trust, what happens when that home is sold, and which assets can and cannot be protected from nursing home costs.