The crash of October

October has a bad reputation in the markets. The biggest crashes in history – 1929, 1987, and 2008 – all took place in October. This pattern does not appear to be a coincidence but rather the result of structural factors that make this month particularly volatile.

Women manage record assets, still underrepresented

The tenth edition of Citywire’s Alpha Female report, published in September 2025, highlights a paradox. Over the past decade, assets managed by female fund managers have nearly tripled, rising from 1.7 trillion euro in 2016 to 4.7 trillion euro today. Yet the share of women in the profession has barely advanced: 10.3 percent in 2016 versus just 12.9 percent this year.

The profit paradox

For decades, it was an iron law for investors: in the long run, the stock market follows economic growth. A thriving economy translated into rising corporate profits and thus higher share prices. But anyone who has watched the past thirty years closely senses a growing friction with this old wisdom.