Trust in capitalism. Americans put up with a lot when they think they have a shot at the prize, but that sentiment is fading in this winner-take-all economy. This Fed chart shows how a rapidly increasing share of U.S. household wealth has gone to rich white Boomers since 1989. Gen Z in particular is seeing signs that the system is rigged: from record oil company profits amid rising energy prices to the unaffordability of housing, health care, and education. They’re worried AI will take their jobs. Hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters marched across Europe over the weekend. I hear a lot of concern about more unrest here.

Trust in politics. I’ve interviewed several hundred CEOs over the past year, on and off the record, across a range of platforms and settings. Publicly, many cheer the Republican agenda on taxes, deregulation, and putting American business first. Privately, far more tell me they’re rattled by the $40 trillion national debt, the government taking ownership in large companies, the vilification of allies and immigrant talent, the perceived need to show loyalty. And I’ve yet to meet one who’s not shocked at the alleged level of personal enrichment by the president and his family. As one CEO said at a recent dinner: “Everything good gets forgotten when there’s grift.” (A recent AP-NORC poll found 6 in 10 U.S. adults believe Trump is profiting off the presidency in unethical or illegal ways.)

Trust in business leaders. We know from the Edelman Trust Barometer that people trust their employer more than any other institution. But they don’t trust business leaders in general, especially when it comes to tech and AI. Shearwater Strategies gave me an exclusive look at their new survey on tech leadership and public trust, which polled a demographically representative sample of 1,563 Americans. When asked what they think tech leaders prioritize, 58% of participants chose “making money for themselves and shareholders.” A distant second was “creating exciting new products” at 34%. When asked what those leaders should prioritize, 58% said “protecting user safety and privacy,” while 12% cited making money. If people don’t trust that tech leaders care about safety and privacy, they’ll vote for politicians who promise to protect those interests instead.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

Top leadership news

AI boom hits a wall on Wall Street

The seemingly endless gusher of capital that’s been showered on Silicon Valley during the AI boom may be coming to an end soon. Following a brutal selloff in tech stocks over the past week, OpenAI slashed the target on its latest fundraising round to $20 billion from $30 billion, sources told the Financial Times. That also cut its expected valuation to $1.25 trillion from $1.4 trillion. Meanwhile, S&P Global cut its credit outlook on Meta to “negative” from “stable” late Friday, citing negative cash flow and uncertainty around capital expenditure ​plans.

Why Wendy’s is losing the burger wars

Wendy’s fortunes have declined so much that it’s now the target of Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management, which is offering to take the restaurant private for $1.4 billion, a sum that’s not even 1% of McDonald’s market value. Wendy’s promotions have fallen flat, intense competition has stolen customers, and a revolving door in the corner office has deprived it of the focus needed to get out of its rut.

Closing America’s hypersonic missile gap

Despite years of research costing billions and some successful tests, the U.S. has yet to fully field a hypersonic missile of its own due to testing complications and production issues. The tech’s been around, but it’s been expensive and difficult to produce at scale. That’s the chasm that startup Castelion, valued at $13 billion, is betting it can close, even if the defense giants have so far fallen short.

The markets

S&P 500 futures are up 0.50% this morning. The last session closed down 1.82%. The STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.05% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was up 0.11% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.33%. South Korea’s KOSPI was up 2.24%. China’s CSI 300 was up 0.79%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.42%. India’s NIFTY 50 was up 1.21%. Bitcoin is up at $78k.

Around the watercooler

Hackers pushed freezers at hundreds of French supermarkets to 122 degrees. Now the Pentagon is asking whether the same thing hit U.S. military bases by Sasha Rogelberg

Welcome to the school where Gen Z learns philanthropy as billionaire wealth explodes—with a 100% job placement rate by Preston Fore and Sydney Lake

China sees the yuan vs. dollar rivalry like Pepsi vs. Coke, expert says — ‘never the market leader, but serviceable in a pinch’ by Jason Ma

While Americans turn against data centers, Brazil offers tax breaks and cheap power, representing a potential ‘release valve’ for U.S. constraints by Mia Osmonbekov

Meet a 38-year-old father rejecting a Trump account for his daughter: ‘I’ll put $1,000 of my own money in an account before I do that’ by Tatiana Sataua

CEO Daily is curated and edited by Joseph Abrams, Jason Ma, Claire Zillman, and Lee Clifford.

Artificial intelligence (AI) stocks are stumbling lately as shareholders scrutinize tech companies’ latest quarterly results. What they’re looking for are signs of life from the monumental investments the companies are making in AI infrastructure.

Not all of them are finding it.

Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX -6.37%) investors initially seemed enthused by the company’s AI revenue surging 830% in the third quarter. It was an impressive gain and indicates that SpaceX’s spending — as high as it is — could potentially be worth the costs. But shareholders quickly pivoted back to their skepticism, and it’s kept SpaceX’s stock below its initial IPO price months after its debut.

So, can SpaceX overcome the current AI trade sell-off? Here’s why SpaceX shareholders are facing an uphill battle right now.

What’s causing the AI sell-off right now?

Many AI stocks have stumbled over the past couple of months as investors have questioned whether the massive ramp-up in data center infrastructure investments will pay off over the long run.

And there are mixed messages about whether it’s working. Microsoft recently reported that its Azure cloud revenue for Q1 of fiscal 2027 (ended Sept. 30), which includes AI sales, rose 48% to $33.1 billion. And management said Azure revenue will increase by up to 50% this quarter. That comes after Azure’s annual sales topped $100 billion for the first time in fiscal 2026.

Accelerating Azure sales is a good indicator that Microsoft’s capital expenditures — which were $45 billion in the first quarter — are paying off.

But other AI stocks haven’t fared as well. Investors punished Alphabet after its recent third-quarter results (ended Sept. 30), as its capital expenditures reached $51.3 billion and the company missed analysts’ estimates for consensus sales and earnings. Alphabet stock fell about 10% the day after its Q3 results were released.

In short, investors are looking very closely at whether capex is paying off, and if they think a company is missing the market, they’re not very forgiving.

How SpaceX is weathering the AI storm

It’ll come as no surprise to tech investors following the AI market that SpaceX shares have been a disappointment since the company’s IPO back in June. They’re down about 5% from their opening price of $150, as of this writing.

But the company is showing significant signs of life in its artificial intelligence segment (which includes its Grok bot and the rental of AI cloud capacity to customers). SpaceX’s AI sales spiked 830% to $7.6 billion in the third quarter (which ended Sept. 30), now accounting for 52% of the company’s total revenue.

That’s impressive growth, but shareholders are still hesitant to get excited. That’s likely because SpaceX’s capex surged 185% to $19.6 billion in the quarter, with 83% of that allocated to AI.

The good news for SpaceX is that the company isn’t completely reliant on its AI business. Sales from its Starlink satellite internet business rose 69% to $5.2 billion, and it has 13.6 million subscribers and is profitable. And its space launch business is growing, with 12 launches in the quarter and a 6% revenue increase to $1.8 billion.

Still, SpaceX can’t shake its high AI spending, and I think it’s perfectly reasonable for shareholders and potential investors to be skeptical about spending right now. While the company’s AI investments are starting to pay off, it says capex will reach up to $40 billion this year.

This means investors need to keep an eye on whether SpaceX can maintain its artificial intelligence sales acceleration as spending rises. I think the (justified) pessimism about so much capex could hamper SpaceX’s stock for a while.

Adding all of the above together makes it unlikely that SpaceX will overcome the AI trade sell-off at the moment and could struggle to gain ground if investors continue to doubt tech companies’ AI investments.