The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that after a years-long blistering rally, stock markets in the U.S. plateaued last spring, and have traded largely sideways since. Globe columnist John Rapley writes that in the months since the S&P 500 hit the 7,500 mark, investors have made it increasingly clear that they're tiring of promises from the AI hyperscalers and want to see the money. On Friday, asset manager Blackstone said Anthropic could have a junk credit rating after its impending public offering. Amazon's aggressive AI expenditure plan and Intel's heavy spending brought further market gloom. It may be that the investment bubble fuelling the economy has reached its limits. Not only have U.S. fiscal deficits flooded the economy with cash, much of which is finding its way into the stock market, but the hyperscalers are issuing a huge volume of bonds to finance their own investments. This competition for lending is driving up interest rates, which is starting to squeeze both governments and businesses. Optimists dismiss concerns that the boom is running out of steam and say that once Tuesday's elections have passed, the stock market will resume rallying, as it generally does after midterm elections.