Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood is shrugging off this week's market jitters, telling CNBC on Friday that concerns among investors actually reinforce her optimism that further gains lie ahead.
U.S. equities sold off sharply on Thursday, reversing the initial rally seen in the wake of the midterm elections. AI-related stocks led the rout, sending the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite into correction territory. On Friday, tech stocks staged a tentative recovery.
Much of the sell-off on Thursday was driven by concerns that a Democrat-led Congress would lead to a slowdown in data center construction. But concerns about artificial intelligence – particularly when it comes to capital expenditure, cash flow, debt and circular financing – have sparked multiple bouts of volatility over the course of this year.
Wood, whose firm manages various funds focused on tech and innovation, told CNBC there was a "wall of worry" pervading financial markets right now. But her decades of experience as an investor give her a somewhat unconventional view of the state of play.
"I experienced the tech and telecom bubble, and you know there really wasn't much worry about it," she said. "It was the 80s and the 90s, and it was a bull market, and people were just assuming this would go to the moon, that is not how this [the AI trade] has evolved."