Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, is the mayor-elect of New York City, often called the financial capital of the world.

Why it matters: While it may still hold that title, New York is increasingly no longer the city with the highest job growth for financial services. Other cities are attracting firms and talent.

State of play: From 2020 to 2023, more than 150 financial firms managing nearly $1 trillion moved their headquarters out of New York, according to Bloomberg News.

• The pandemic led to a shift in how firms thought about where they could work.

By the numbers: The relocation of financial firms after 2020 led to Texas gaining the most finance jobs, and New York losing the third-highest number of jobs in the sector, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• This matches the federal jobs data indicating more financial services jobs were added in Texas than in New York in the 12 months ending in August.
• Florida was a close second to New York in the number of finance jobs added, even as finance job growth has slowed in New York this year.

Reality check: When you follow the money, there is no doubt that New York still dominates.

• The securities industry in the city is set to hit $60 billion in profits for the year, in what would be the highest on record, according to the New York State Comptroller.
• The city still has more securities jobs than any other city or state in the country, but preliminary data show a dip of 1.5% for these roles in 2025.
• JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the nation, just opened a new $3 billion office in the heart of Manhattan. (The bank, however, employs more people in Texas than it does in New York.)

Between the lines: Wall Street can be more of a vibe than a place these days.

• Wall Street South in Florida and Y'all Street in Texas have both gained in popularity, with the Texas Stock Exchange winning federal approval in September.
• "Wall Street" is often the bête noire of retail investors, whose growing influence makes them account for 25% of daily stock trading volume.

The bottom line: Home is where the heart is, and for Wall Street, the heart follows the money.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Palantir CEO Alex Karp both publicly snubbed questions about the fundamentals of their companies this week.

Why it matters: AI enthusiasts think the technology is too transformative to be measured by worldly metrics. Wall Street is starting to disagree.

Catch up quick: In an interview with OpenAI investor and podcaster Brad Gerstner, Altman was asked about the firm's $13 billion in revenue compared with its $1.4 trillion in planned expenditures.

• "If you want to sell your shares, I'll find you a buyer," Altman responded.
• Days later, when Karp was asked about famed "Big Short" investor Michael Burry shorting Palantir and broader concerns about the valuation of the stock, he called Burry "bats—t crazy."

What they're saying: "I think it's fair to ask questions" around "valuations today," Rishi Jaluria, managing director at RBC Capital Markets, tells Axios.

• Jaluria adds that he has been getting more questions from investors recently about how AI infrastructure is going to be funded.

Zoom out: This mirrors a broader skepticism around how AI companies are approaching their balance sheets.

• Meta stock is still down 14% since it reported earnings. While the company reported record revenue, it also teased increased spending plans.
• Meta, Oracle and Alphabet have all issued debt recently, presumably as a means of funding their AI investment plans, which alongside Amazon are projected to swell to over $450 billion this year.

Reality check: AI evangelists on Wall Street are also skeptical that standard metrics, such as valuations, are the best way to analyze these companies.

• "I don't pay attention to valuations that much," Jack Janasiewicz, portfolio manager at Natixis Investment Managers, tells Axios, adding that he sees the metric as subjective.

Zoom in: Valuations, for example, would not take into account OpenAI entering multibillion-dollar partnerships with other tech players.

• Those partnerships have created a "too big to fail type of scenario" for OpenAI, Brad Erickson, an internet equity analyst at RBC, says.
• The biggest question Erickson gets from clients is what could potentially change that narrative, which could stem from broader economic issues rather than any company-specific challenges.

The bottom line: Regarding the emerging disconnect between Wall Street and AI proponents, Jaluria says it comes down to whether you are "truly a believer" in how these tech companies can unlock profitable AI-use cases.

• That exact question is one the hyperscalers are willing to bet half a trillion dollars on.

Some Wall Street analysts have outdated models and can't understand the success of "baller" companies like Palantir, CEO Alex Karp told Mike Allen on The Axios Show.

Why it matters: This underlines the tension between AI executives and the traditional Wall Street means of valuing companies. Watch the clip here.