Ruffling feathers in finance
Treasury Secretary Bessent suggests reviewing the Fed, an idea that’s ruffling feathers in central banking’s insular, self-congratulatory world.
Chart of the week: celebration
While many economists were once again forecasting a recession and plenty of so-called market experts were calling an end to the rally, equity markets are celebrating summer with new record highs. I’m curious to see how they’ll explain their latest miss.
ECB frustrated by strong euro, shows its inconsistency once again
It was June 2008 when I flew to New York to meet Paul Volcker for the first time. That trip is memorable for two reasons: first and foremost, of course, for the opportunity to sit down and talk with Volcker. But also because that week, EUR/USD reached its all-time high, just shy of 1.60.
Frontier, emerging, and developed markets
Vietnamese finance minister Nguyen Van Thang met with representatives from FTSE Russell last week to discuss the potential reclassification of Vietnam’s capital market. This marks an important moment in Vietnam’s journey from frontier market to emerging market status in 2025—a long-awaited upgrade that has been on the table since 2018.
Chart of the week: a mega regime shift on the horizon?
Developments in public finances are unfolding at such a rapid pace that there’s barely time left to look at asset prices themselves. But if you take a step back, it’s hard not to conclude that we are witnessing a regime shift. So why is hardly anyone talking about it?
Artificially intelligent wealth management
We are at the beginning of a fundamental transformation in wealth management. Financial decisions are increasingly being made by algorithms. Within just a few years, AI-driven applications will become the primary source of advice for retail investors, with usage expected to grow to 80 percent by 2028. This is not some distant vision of the future—it’s already happening.
Family offices: finance’s new identity crisis
Family offices blur traditional financial roles. They are asset owners, asset managers, and wealth advisors simultaneously. Can the industry manage this complexity effectively?
What if your economic memory is too good?
Large language models may seem brilliant at making predictions, but often it’s just memorization. And that has implications for investors relying on LLMs for economic analysis.
Chart of the week: lack of buyers
Each week, I think about which macro figure or market theme to explore in this column. Then, out of nowhere, another article pops up about that enormous elephant in the room: our debt-fueled economic system is creaking so loudly that it can’t be ignored.
Jan Longeval: ‘Turbulence in the Japanese bond market’
Due to Donald Trump’s erratic policies, all eyes are on the United States bond market, where the bond vigilantes have run wild. But there is also unrest in the Japanese bond market—and perhaps that should worry us even more.