The Bid

The K-shaped consumer is redefining the outlook for the U.S. economy. While overall spending remains resilient, growth is increasingly concentrated among higher-income households, creating widening gaps across income levels. As policy shifts, AI adoption, and healthcare innovations reshape behavior, the consumer landscape is becoming more uneven.
In this episode of The Bid, host Oscar Pulido is joined by Lisa Yang, Portfolio Manager and Co-Head of the Consumer Industry Group within BlackRock Fundamental Equities, to assess the state of the U.S. consumer heading into 2026. From wage growth and labor market dynamics to fiscal policy, tariffs, and immigration, Lisa explains how macro forces are influencing spending patterns — and why resilience is strongest at the high end. The conversation also explores structural shifts shaping stock market trends, including the rise of value-focused retailers, the impact of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs on food and apparel demand, and how AI-driven “agentic commerce” could transform retail media and brand discovery. As capital markets digest these changes, understanding the nuances of consumer behavior is critical for investors.
Key insights from this episode:
02:11 Introducing The "Two Speed Consumer"
04:26 Yellow Flags Ahead - Why the U.S. Consumer Remains Resilient But increasingly K-shaped
05:46 Policy Shocks 2026 - How fiscal policy and tariffs could widen income-driven spending gaps
08:45 Why Value Retailers and Discounters are Outperforming
12:01 GLP One Ripple Effects - How GLP-1 Drugs Are Reshaping Grocery, Apparel, and Beauty categories
14:40 How AI Will Change Shopping Trends - What agentic commerce means for retailers, brands, and advertising models
17:43 Other Trends Watchlist - Why Health and Wellness Remains A Durable Long-term Consumer Trend
20:02 Conclusions
K-shaped economy, U.S. consumer spending, AI in retail, GLP-1 drugs, capital markets, stock market trends, consumer investing, megaforces
Sources: “Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services” February 2026, United States Census Bureau; US Bureau of Economic Analysis (PCE data); FRED 2026, Bureau of Labor Statistics; Wage Growth Data, January 2026, Federal Reserve of Atlanta; Tax refunds per Morgan Stanley, Piper Sandler estimates; “US food outlook 2026”, Bernstein; “GLP-1 Boom Accelerates Nationwide Shift in Size Curves, Putting $5 Billion in U.S. Apparel Retail Inventory at Risk, According to New Impact Analytics Study”, Global Newswire, September 2025
This content is for informational purposes only and is not an offer or a solicitation. Reliance upon information in this material is at the sole discretion of the listener. Reference to any company or investment strategy mentioned is for illustrative purposes only and not investment advice. In the UK and non-European Economic Area countries, this is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. In the European Economic Area, this is authorized and regulated by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets. For full disclosures, visit blackrock.com/corporate/compliance/bid-disclosures.

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Skilled trades are becoming one of the most important — and overlooked — drivers of the global infrastructure boom. As trillions of dollars flow into energy systems, transportation networks, telecoms, and AI data centers, the constraint is no longer just capital — it’s labor. The scale of the infrastructure buildout is historic, but delivering it depends on the availability of trained workers.
In this episode of The Bid, host Oscar Pulido is joined by Claire Chamberlain, Global Head of Social Impact and President of the BlackRock Foundation, and Sandra Lawson, Managing Director in Global Corporate Affairs, to explore why skilled trades are central to the next phase of infrastructure investing. With an estimated $85 trillion in global infrastructure investment needed over the next 15 years, demand for electricians, HVAC technicians, grid specialists and plumbers is accelerating.
Claire and Sandra explain how apprenticeship-based career pathways offer paid training, competitive wages, and the prospect of long-term financial stability — while also highlighting the growing supply-demand imbalance in the labor market. The conversation explores how philanthropy, employers, unions, schools, and policymakers can work together to expand training capacity and modernize workforce development. As megaforces like AI and infrastructure reshape capital markets, human capital will be just as critical as financial capital in determining long-term economic success.
Key moments:
00:00 Introduction and meet the guests
02:13 WWhat the $85 trillion infrastructure opportunity means for labor markets
03:54 Why AI and infrastructure are increasing demand for specialized workers
04:45 Why Are These Skilled Jobs Good Jobs?
07:15 Training Pipeline Worker Shortage
08:43 Philanthropy as Catalyst For The Infrastructure Skilled Trades Requirement
10:41 What success looks like for workforce development in an infrastructure-driven economy
12:56 Rethinking Going to College vs Apprenticeships and Skilled Trades
15:25 How collaboration among employers, unions schools, and philanthropy can expand training capacity
17:19 Wrap Up and Disclosure
Skilled trades, infrastructure investing, workforce development, capital markets, AI infrastructure, megaforces, economic growth, energy transition
Sources: “On the record: Infrastructure and the opportunity in skilled trades”, BlackRock 2026
Written Disclosures In Episode Description:
This content is for informational purposes only and is not an offer or a solicitation. Reliance upon information in this material is at the sole discretion of the listener. Reference to any company or investment strategy mentioned is for illustrative purposes only and not investment advice. In the UK and non-European Economic Area countries, this is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. In the European Economic Area, this is authorized and regulated by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets. For full disclosures, visit blackrock.com/corporate/compliance/bid-disclosures.
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Powering AI is no longer just a technology story — it’s an energy and infrastructure story reshaping capital markets and the global economy. As artificial intelligence scales from training to real-world inference, electricity demand is accelerating at a pace few anticipated.
In this episode of The Bid, host Oscar Pulido is joined by Will Su from BlackRock’s Fundamental Equities Group to examine how powering AI is transforming utilities, natural gas markets, renewables, and nuclear power. With data centers expanding rapidly and gigawatt-scale facilities coming online, the AI build-out is driving a structural shift in U.S. electricity demand after more than a decade of stagnation.
Will explains why the energy sector sits at the center of AI investing. From the rise of “bring your own power” models to the growing role of natural gas as a dispatchable, scalable fuel source, the infrastructure required to support AI represents one of the largest capital investment cycles in modern history. The conversation also explores renewables, battery storage, and nuclear power — including the limits of restarts and the long timeline for new reactor construction.
Key moments:
00:00 Introduction Power Is Knowledge: AI’s Exponential Energy Appetite
02:31 From Tokens to ‘Yottaflops’: Why Smarter Models Need More Electricity
05:04 Training LLMs vs. Inference: The Next Wave of AI Power Demand
06:45 Data Centers at City Scale: How Big Is the Load?
11:15 Bring Your Own Power (BYOP): Why Natural Gas Is Back in Focus
16:04 Renewables Reality Check: Solar Momentum, Wind Headwinds, and Batteries
19:14 Nuclear’s Comeback - Restarts Now, New Builds Later
21:26 Can AI Beat Humans at Investing? Man + Machine as the Edge
23:33 Wrap-Up, What’s Next

Key insights from this episode:
· Why natural gas has emerged as a key “here and now” fuel for AI infrastructure
· How renewables and battery storage fit into the AI electricity mix
· The long-term outlook for nuclear power and reactor construction
· What “bring your own power” means for hyperscalers and utilities
· How electrification and reshoring intersect with AI investing
· Why the relationship between compute and energy is reshaping stock market trends
Powering AI 2.0, AI investing, infrastructure, capital markets, energy transition, utilities, stock market trends, megaforces
Sources: “From CES 2026 to Yottaflops: Why the AMD Keynote Highlights a Turning Point for AI Compute”, AMD 2026; “The Industrial Revolution, coal mining, and the Felling Colliery Disaster”, Lancaster University, 2026; Bureau of Economic Analysis data 2026; “Stargate's First Data Center Site is Size of Central Park, With At Least 57 Jobs”, Bloomberg 2026; “Energy Demand from AI”, IEA 2026; “Scaling bigger, faster, cheaper data centers with smarter designs”, McKinsey 2025; EEI 2024 Review; “Data Centers Ditching the Power Grid, Mark Carney's Viral Speech, and Some Joy”, Clearview Energy; “2024 North American Energy Inventory”, IER;
This content is for informational purposes only and is not an offer or a solicitation. Reliance upon information in this material is at the sole discretion of the listener. Reference to any company or investment strategy mentioned is for illustrative purposes only and not investment advice. In the UK and non-European Economic Area countries, this is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. In the European Economic Area, this is authorized and regulated by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets. For full disclosures, visit blackrock.com/corporate/compliance/bid-disclosures.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thematic investing is increasingly shaping how investors interpret markets heading into 2026, as artificial intelligence, geopolitical fragmentation, and infrastructure constraints intersect across the global economy.
Jay Jacobs, Head of U.S. Equity ETFs at BlackRock, joins Oscar to discuss why mega forces are becoming harder to ignore—and harder to diversify away from—than in past market cycles. Their conversation explores how AI investing is evolving from a growth narrative into one focused on usage intensity, how national security considerations are reshaping the definition of defense, and why physical infrastructure is emerging as a critical market constraint.
Key insights include:
· Why thematic investing is gaining relevance alongside sector and style frameworks
· How AI usage intensity reframes the AI investment conversation
· Where infrastructure and energy constraints may influence adoption timelines
· How geopolitical fragmentation is expanding the definition of defense
· Why overlapping mega forces may shape market outcomes into 2026

Key moments in this episode:
00:00 Introduction to Thematic Investing in 2026: AI and Market Forces
00:40 The Rise of Thematic Investing
01:43 Deep Dive into AI's Market Impact
05:22 Understanding Token Consumption
07:55 Evaluating AI Investments
11:12 Geopolitical Fragmentation and Defense
13:51 Infrastructure's Evolving Role
16:42 Future of AI and Broader Implications
18:38 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Thematic investing, AI investing, Capital markets, Infrastructure, Megaforces, Stock market trends, Geopolitical fragmentation, Defense spending
Sources: iShares Thematic Outlook, 2026
This content is for informational purposes only and is not an offer or a solicitation. Reliance upon information in this material is at the sole discretion of the listener. Reference to any company or investment strategy mentioned is for illustrative purposes only and not investment advice. In the UK and non-European Economic Area countries, this is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. In the European Economic Area, this is authorized and regulated by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets. For full disclosures, visit blackrock.com/corporate/compliance/bid-disclosures.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Retirement planning is becoming more complex as careers grow less linear, lifespans extend, and financial decisions start earlier in life. From early-career savers to small business owners and those approaching retirement, people are asking how to build financial security while staying flexible in an unpredictable world.
In this Ask Me Anything episode of The Bid, host Oscar Pulido is joined by Jaime Magyera, Head of BlackRock’s U.S. Wealth Advisory and Retirement Businesses, to answer listener-submitted questions on retirement realities. Jaime shares perspectives drawn from her work with individual savers, financial advisors, and small business owners across the country.
The conversation reframes retirement as the freedom to choose what comes next, rather than a fixed end point. Jaime discusses the importance of starting early, maintaining discipline through market cycles, and building plans that can adapt as careers, families, and goals evolve. The episode also explores the role of professional advice, the challenges facing non-traditional career paths, and why preparation — not prediction — is central to long-term financial resilience.
Key insights include:
• Why retirement is best viewed as a transition, not a destination
• How starting early and staying invested can shape long-term outcomes
• Why flexible planning matters for non-linear careers and families
• What advisors should consider when working with small business owners
• How professional advice differs from social and digital guidance
• Why preparedness and emergency savings support financial resilience

Key moments in this episode:
00:00 Introduction to The Bid
00:50 Meet Jamie Magyera: Insights on Retirement Planning
01:48 Transitioning into Retirement: Key Considerations
04:05 Financial Planning for Younger Generations
06:41 Non-Traditional Retirement Timelines
09:56 Advisors and Small Business Owners: Planning for the Future
12:45 How To Build Long-Term Client Relationships
15:33 The Value of Professional Financial Advice
17:28 Conclusion and Key Takeaways
18:16 Closing Remarks and Up Next
retirement planning, financial security, wealth planning, capital markets, long-term investing,
Sources: BlackRock’s Read On Retirement Survey, September 2025
This content is for informational purposes only and is not an offer or a solicitation. Reliance upon information in this material is at the sole discretion of the listener. Reference to any company or investment strategy mentioned is for illustrative purposes only and not investment advice. In the UK and non-European Economic Area countries, this is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. In the European Economic Area, this is authorized and regulated by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets. For full disclosures, visit blackrock.com/corporate/compliance/bid-disclosures.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.