Episode summary
Bloomberg Surveillance TV: June 1st, 2026 | Bloomberg Surveillance
Bloomberg Surveillance
· · Hosts: Tom Keene, Paul Sweeney, Lisa Mateo, Michael Barr · Guests: Torsten Slok, Peter Tchir, Ed Al-Hussainy
Summary
The discussion centered on whether artificial intelligence is a labor-market destroyer or a demand engine. One guest argued that AI is already helping create more businesses, more solo founders, and more jobs at the aggregate level, even if some white-collar roles weaken. He pointed to strong jobless-claims data, solid ADP prints, and a hotter-than-expected May payrolls risk as evidence that the economy is still running with upward pressure on inflation.
A second guest was more cautious, saying the market is underestimating the inflationary implications of AI data-center buildout, higher energy costs, defense spending, and broad industrial investment. He argued that bond yields can stay under pressure and that the long end of the curve may need to reprice further if the Fed sounds too dovish. He also warned that policy and politics could become the bigger threat if AI and electricity usage turn into an election issue.
A third guest said the Fed does not need to hike immediately, but it does need to create a “permission structure” for markets to price in that risk. He said inflation is still tied to labor-market conditions, that markets may be borrowing too much optimism from anticipated productivity gains, and that long-end bonds may actually look better after the recent repricing.
Key takeaways
- One guest said AI is increasing business formation and solo founders, which he thinks will ultimately support more job growth rather than less.
- The same guest argued that the labor market remains strong, with low jobless claims, steady ADP gains, and unemployment for 20- to 24-year-olds falling over the past six months.
- A second guest expects AI data-center spending, energy prices, and defense outlays to keep global bond yields under pressure and push rates higher for longer.
- That guest also said the biggest risk to the AI investment story may be political backlash over electricity use, jobs, and corporate taxation.
- A third guest said the Fed is unlikely to hike soon, but it should stop signaling an easing bias so markets can price the risk of hikes.
- He argued that long-end bonds have already repriced and may now offer better risk-reward as the yield curve flattens.
Notable quotes
“at the macro level and at the macro level it's become much easier to open a business”
“This economy really is on fire in the sense that we both have strong growth and we also have upward pressures on inflation”
“I think global bond yields are going higher. We're going to face that”
“the obvious one is removing that language around the easing bias. I think that's fully digested by markets at this point”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts, radio, news. — This is the Bloomberg Surveillance podcast. I'm Jonathan Ferro along with Lisa Abramowitz and Amry Hohlt and join us each day for insight from the best in markets, economics and geopolitics. From our global headquarters in New York City, we are live on Bloomberg Television weekday mornings from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify or anywhere else you listen and as always on the Bloomberg Terminal and the Bloomberg Business app.
The Nvidia boss, Jensen Huang, saying concerns around AI's impact on the workforce are overblown. Torsten Slok of Apollo agrees writing there is zero evidence of job losses because of AI. Nonfarm payrolls for May could come in significantly higher than the around 90K expected. Torsten joins us for more. Torsten, good morning. Good to see you. What are people getting wrong?
Well, I think what people are getting wrong is this whole notion that it's not only about individual companies. It's what's happening at the macro level and at the macro level it's become much easier to open a business. You see this in the surveys from the census of how many businesses are created every week is exploding higher.
You're also seeing data from Stripe showing you the number of solo founders of new businesses is also exploding higher. So there's a lot of new businesses that are created. Yes, some of them will probably only be one employer, namely the founder, but a lot of these businesses will also be the result in a lot more jobs.
So it's not only about the displacement that there might come on some micro levels. It's much more about the aggregate where we have a significant increase in the number of new businesses that are formed.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- macro outlook
- global rates
- economy
- market strategy
- investment outlook
Companies and tickers mentioned
- APO
- AMP
- Apollo Global Management
- Academy Securities
- Columbia Threadneedle
Watch the episode
Watch “Bloomberg Surveillance TV: June 1st, 2026 | Bloomberg Surveillance” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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