Record EUR62 billion scramble for Meta's new bonds! Behind the popularity of tech giants' stocks and bonds: risk appetite shifts toward high-quality growth.

Title context: Record EUR62 billion scramble for Meta's new bonds! Behind the popularity of tech giants' stocks and bonds: risk appetite shifts toward high-quality growth. Text: Just as financing costs for AI computing infrastructure are significantly depressing the overall valuations of the AI computing industry chain, new cloud players, and cloud computing giants, the stellar performance of the latest euro bond issuance by Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms Inc. (META.US) shows that global capital remains willing to finance the long-term growth of high-quality technology companies. As of Wednesday's U.S. stock market close, large technology giants with persistently strong fundamentals are becoming an important destination for the recovery of market risk appetite, driven by easing discount-rate pressure amid a cooling U.S. dollar index and yields on 10-year and longer U.S. Treasuries, adjustments to capital expenditure expectations, and the market's reassessment of tech giants' competitive advantages in the AI agent era. After Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress on November 4, Microsoft Corporation, Amazon.com, Inc., Alphabet and Meta rose 6.7%, 6.1%, 3.2% and 1.4%, respectively. Expectations that fiscal expansion may face more constraints, combined with falling oil prices and retreating U.S. Treasury yields, provided important support for global technology stock valuations. At the same time, the market has begun trading another bullish logic and a classic fundamental narrative under the AI wave: if the pace of data center construction becomes more prudent, it could ease the pressure on giants to keep ramping up capital expenditure and increase the scarcity value of existing computing infrastructure. Large technology giants such as Meta and Microsoft Corporation, which have mature customer systems, application distribution channels and ample operating cash flow, are therefore better positioned to convert existing computing power into revenue and profit, attracting capital to reassess their long-term growth value. The latest bond market statistics show that indicative quotes for Meta Platforms' newly issued euro bonds are already significantly above par. During European market trading hours this Wednesday, the issuance attracted investor orders that set a record for corporate bond issuance across the entire European market. According to a series of data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence, indicative bond market quotes for all six tranches of Meta's issuance were sharply higher on Thursday, and even bid quotesthe prices at which traders are willing to buy the bondswere above par. The large investment banks that arranged Wednesday's EUR9 billion (about US$10.1 billion) issuance generally priced each tranche at slightly below 100 cents per euro of face value at the time of issuance. The price gains followed a record-breaking bond sale by Meta, with order books reaching EUR62 billion, far exceeding the EUR31 billion bond subscription record set a decade ago by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV Sponsored ADR. Orders kept growing because the issuance offered spreads far wider than those of other hyperscale technology companies that have issued euro bonds, closer to the spreads offered by bonds rated several notches below Meta's AA rating. Meta and other hyperscale technology companies have recently offered attractive yields when issuing bonds to lure investors who are increasingly skeptical about whether massive AI spending can generate sustained strong cash returns. Although investors eagerly subscribed to Meta's issuance, they are becoming increasingly selective about AI-related bonds overall, especially those issued by highly leveraged new cloud technology companies and technology companies with persistently negative cash flow. Euro bonds issued on Monday by Alphabet Inc., the parent of Alphabet Inc. Class C, also carried indicative quotes above par in the latest compilation by Bloomberg Intelligence today. Amid high AI financing costs, EUR62 billion in orders is a vote for tech giants Meta's euro bonds attracting EUR62 billion in orders, with bid quotes for all six tranches above par on the first day of trading, provides a credit-market echo of this risk-appetite recovery. The EUR9 billion issuance corresponds to roughly 6.9 times subscription, reflecting both the appeal of wider issuance spreads and the willingness of global investors to take on long-term credit risk for high-quality tech giants; euro bonds issued by Alphabet over the same period also commanded above-par quotes, further highlighting the strong AI financing capacity of large technology platforms. Looking at the specific capital rotation and the investment mechanism behind the pickup in risk appetite, stable bond demand means financing channels remain open, while a more rational construction pace could improve future free cash flow expectationstogether enhancing tech giants' ability to ride out this AI investment cycle. This shows that the current recovery in risk appetite has a distinct quality biasglobal capital is beginning to refocus on platform companies that can sustain financing, effectively deploy computing power, and translate AI demand into commercial returns. Microsoft Corporation, Meta, Alphabet Inc. Class C parent Alphabet, Tencent, Alibaba and other large technology giants have therefore become important windows for observing this round of valuation repair. This is also why, in the view of some analysts who are long-term bullish on tech giants, the fact that Meta's EUR9 billion bond issuance drew subscriptions about 6.9 times the deal size is not contradictory to the adjustment in AI computing, semiconductors and new cloud companies: as 10-year U.S. Treasury yields and AI financing costs remain persistently high after their surge, investors are distinguishing between companies that rely on external financing for continued expansion and platform giants with massive operating cash flow, mature business models and diversified financing channels. Meta's relatively wide issuance spreads attracted capital, and the post-issuance price gains further show that the pricing of these bonds was absorbed by the market. This divergence is also occurring amid a rare sharp global selloff in technology assets: the Nasdaq 100 Index has entered a technical correction range, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has fallen about 25% over the past month, entering a bear market. South Korea's KOSPI fell 16.19% in October and another 5.3% on November 5, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix falling 7.6% and 9.4% that day, respectively, showing that the selloff has penetrated memory chips, the most core link in AI computing infrastructure construction. Alphabet Inc. Class C parent Alphabet had earlier plunged 12.6% on October 29, and Intel Corporation fell nearly 29% the next day, its worst single-day performance since 1974. From financing anxiety to cash flow stratification, Wall Street seeks new fulcrums amid tech stock recovery CoreWeave (CRWV.US), the AI new cloud leader and the stock at the very center of the "AI computing selloff storm" and "AI bubble burst" narrative, has faced more direct selling pressure recently: its shares fell 9.90% on November 4 to close at US$48.42. The yield on its 2031 U.S. dollar bonds briefly exceeded 16% on October 15; on the same day, its five-year CDS rose intraday to 1,194.5 basis points, corresponding to a market-implied five-year cumulative default probability of more than 60%. This probability includes a risk premium and is not a direct forecast of the actual default rate. For new cloud companies, equipment procurement, interest and construction spending come first, while computing delivery and customer payments come later; delays in approvals, power access or deployment widen funding gaps, while high benchmark rates and credit spreads further raise the cost of new financing and refinancing. Large platforms are also affected by rising financing costs, but their existing business cash flow and financing channels create a clear distinction in credit risk from highly leveraged new clouds. Democrats winning control of Congress has also brought data center construction pace into pricing. The market worries that approvals, energy and construction constraints may tighten, but this is currently mainly a policy expectation and cannot be directly equated with comprehensive restrictions on AI construction. On November 4, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 3.1%, while the S&P 500 rose about 1.6%, and Amazon.com, Inc. and Alphabet rose 6.1% and 3.2%, respectively: suppliers face the risk of delayed order fulfillment, while platform companies may benefit from capital expenditure constraints, the scarcity of existing computing power and a more rational pace of investment. At the same time, expectations of fiscal restraint and cooling inflation expectations pushed the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield down from 4.951% the previous day to 4.891%. Therefore, the pressure from previously high financing costs remains, but the marginal changes after the election have begun to favor valuation repair for high-quality technology assets. Wall Street's attitude is also shifting. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft has turned bullish on U.S. technology stocks again, believing the recent correction has been excessive, valuations and positioning have cooled, and earnings growth remains resilient; Morgan Stanley's chief U.S. equity strategist Mike Wilson believes this correction is nearing its end and is focusing on high-quality companies whose valuations have fallen and whose earnings are highly sustainable. The opportunity they both point to is a re-matching of post-correction prices with the quality of long-term operating growth, rather than a synchronized rebound across all AI assets. Pershing Square, led by Ackman, further noted in its latest shareholder letter that the market may be treating massive AI capital expenditure as long-term while not fully pricing in the subsequent revenue acceleration from these investments; large technology companies' customer relationships, data, distribution channels and commercialization capabilities make it easier to convert added computing power into billable services. Ackman's latest judgment is already supported by strong growth in AI-related cloud businesses: Amazon.com, Inc.'s AWS revenue grew 39.3% in the third quarter, and Alphabet's Google Cloud revenue grew 103%, the latter including a significant contribution from TPU system sales. The hot sale of Meta's bonds adds the financing link to this bullish logic: as revenue growth, financing availability and investment returns gradually connect, high-quality platforms will have the foundation to move from valuation compression to value re-rating.