Opinion

In 1972, Richard Nixon flew to Beijing convinced that the world was becoming multipolar. He sought to position the United States as one of several great powers, strong enough to balance the Soviet Union and other emerging rivals. What he could not foresee was that his visit would instead mark the beginning of a unipolar era defined by unprecedented American dominance.

The Eltif label is emerging as more than a regulatory badge. Under Europe’s revised Solvency 2 regime, it is becoming the most reliable route for insurers to secure and retain lower capital charges in private markets, say Sebastiaan Hooghiemstra, Juliane Hurter and Daan Maas of Loyens & Loeff.

Imagine this: your boss can see exactly when you’re sitting at your desk, what time you arrive, what time you leave, and when you take lunch. It almost sounds like a nightmare from a dystopian novel, but for 300 equity analysts, this was daily reality between 2017 and 2021.

Corporate governance is one of those topics investors prefer to push into the background as long as markets are rising. Yet the quality of corporate governance is one of the most decisive factors for the long-term valuation of an equity market.

Every May, a ritual unfolds in Omaha, Nebraska that I have never quite understood. Thousands of investors fly to a shareholder meeting in the middle of the American Midwest to hear a wise old man explain that smart investors can probably find better uses for their money than flying to shareholder meetings in the middle of the American Midwest.

Every time an oil crisis occurs, the recession scenario is immediately dusted off. The oil price rises, analysts pull out their charts, and within a week the first warnings appear that a recession is inevitable. But the relationship between oil crises and recessions is much weaker than is commonly assumed.

With no end to the war with Iran in sight, talk of a recession is resurfacing. Yet other indicators suggest that the bull market is far from over.

European dependence on fossil fuels poses a risk to price stability. That is according to Frank Elderson, the Dutch member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB). Energy shocks, which seem to occur with increasing frequency, are making it ever more difficult for the ECB to keep inflation at 2 percent per year.

There was a time when software companies could rely on growth rates and compelling narratives about scalable business models. Revenue was paramount, profit an afterthought. A decade ago, investors routinely paid six to ten times annual recurring revenue for SaaS businesses, and that felt entirely reasonable. Anyone who raised concerns about cash flow was dismissed as an old-fashioned investor who did not understand the future. That era has ended.

For over ten years, I’ve been writing articles for investors, economists, and anyone with even the slightest interest in the financial markets. Extremely negative stories, stories about the issues of the day, or stories with sensational headlines tend to do particularly well. Although I’m occasionally lumped into the first category, I’m usually not very good at writing those kinds of stories. But today I have a topic that tops the charts every day: Artificial Intelligence.