Companies are starting to talk more about the real, quantifiable things they're doing with AI: from designing new toys to writing marketing copy, according to a new analysis of investor earnings calls.

Why it matters: It was just a few years ago that many companies paid lip service to AI — now they're offering tangible details.

The latest: One-quarter of the companies in the S&P 500 mentioned at least one quantifiable impact from AI in the first three months of the year — up from 13% in the same period in 2025, according to a report yesterday from Morgan Stanley, which used AI to analyze transcripts.

By the numbers: 42% of tech companies highlighted tangible benefits.

• In second place is finance, with 40% of companies touting their efforts with AI, up from 15% the year before.
• Communications services ranked third.

The big picture: The pace of AI adoption is crazy fast, happening more quickly than with internet adoption at the turn of the last century. Even as geopolitics and uncertainty are ramping up, AI continues to be the story for investors.

Zoom in: The bank's report includes many examples: Toymaker Hasbro says it is using AI-assisted design to reduce "time from concept to physical prototype by roughly 80%." The company says humans still determine what final products to make.

• Bank of America said using AI "saves us about 2,000 people" who would typically write code. CEO Brian Moynihan spoke earlier this year about letting "headcount drift down," thanks to AI.
• Tobacco company Altria highlighted a 50% reduction in time required to create marketing content.

Reality check: This is still the early stages. 75% of the companies didn't point to quantifiable benefits, per Morgan Stanley.

• And this is a subjective analysis. A similar one from Goldman Sachs, released last month, found only 10% of S&P 500 firms noted AI impact in specific use cases. About half discussed AI "in the context of productivity."
• Analyst Ronnie Walker did find that 70% of firms were talking about AI, though.

What to watch: A survey out earlier this year of nearly 6,000 business executives found that though the vast majority are using the technology, they haven't yet reported much impact on their companies over the past three years.

• They predict that the productivity boost will land over the next three years.
• We're merely in the second part of the first phase of AI adoption, says Kevin Khang, senior global economist at Vanguard. He expects it to accelerate.
• "This is on just about every CEO's desk as their No. 1 priority this year."

The bottom line: Companies are spending billions of dollars on AI tools and have a big incentive to promote every little thing they're doing with this stuff.

The S&P 500 just took a round trip — the stock benchmark for investors has recovered, and then some, from a war-driven selloff.

Why it matters: It's a split-screen moment: investor enthusiasm happening alongside the biggest energy shock in history, a rise in inflation and warnings about slower economic growth.

The big picture: Investors are betting that the war will soon end and that the disruption in energy — 20% of the world's oil and other petroleum products that have been cut off — will be less momentous than in past oil shocks.

• Plus, companies have just started reporting their quarterly results, and Wall Street is expecting a banger of an earnings season — driven in part by AI.

Where it stands: The S&P 500 closed up 1.2% yesterday — just 0.2% off its record high reached on Jan. 27.

• "So as far as the stock market is concerned, the war is over until further notice," per Yardeni Research's note this morning, titled "Mr. Market Says the War Is Over."
• Stock futures are little changed this morning.

Catch up quick: The S&P 500 was still at high but shaky levels in February as the AI fear trade took hold. Then the war erupted, driving oil prices up and stock prices down.

• By the end of March, the S&P 500 had fallen 7% off its all-time high and the tech-heavy Nasdaq was in "correction" territory, which means a decline of at least 10% from its previous high.
• That appears to have been some kind of bottom. Or at least Wall Street hoped so.

Between the lines: The spring derailment was followed by a strong bounce back — echoing a pattern that happened just a year ago.

• A big April selloff driven by a White House policy — "Liberation Day" tariffs — was followed by a reversal by President Trump that's better known as TACO, and stocks rallied.

State of play: A relief rally took hold the day after the ceasefire agreement that was announced on April 7.

• And by Monday, stocks were back to the level they were at before the war.
• Now, they're trading even higher.

The bottom line: "Momentum has not been derailed by the geopolitical shock," JPMorgan analysts wrote in a note Monday.

• Over time, stocks mostly go up. They're doing it again.

Red Lobster's attempt at a comeback isn't going so hot — one of its investors, TCW Group, has marked down the value of its equity stake in the company by 98%, Bloomberg reported yesterday.

The big picture: The seafood purveyor, famous for its biscuits and endless shrimp, has been struggling for a while, surpassed by other trendier offerings and weighed down by onerous real estate obligations.

• It emerged from bankruptcy in 2024, with a new CEO and high hopes among its private equity backers.

The intrigue: Even as TCW has written down its equity stake — to less than $1 million — it's still valuing the $56 million in loans made to Red Lobster at 100% of full value, per Bloomberg.

• That's unusual, Phil Brendel, a senior distressed credit analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, tells the news outlet. "The forces driving that equity cushion lower would ordinarily drive the debt down, too."

Zoom in: TCW's loan to Red Lobster is held in a business development company, and BDCs are under a spotlight now in the private credit meltdown.

Between the lines: The situation captures why there is so much anxiety in private credit right now — it's hard to know what's going on inside these loans.