Within Western equity markets, two themes are currently stealing the show – artificial intelligence (AI) and defence – with little attention being paid to companies active in other sectors. This concentration on just a few leading names (the “magnificent seven”)

According to the OECD’s Global Debt Report 2025, nearly 45% of OECD government bonds are set to mature before the end of 2027. For France, Spain, the UK and the US – four countries identified in the report as having

Lesser dependence on the US dollar in international payments was a major topic at the recent council meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, chaired by Chinese Premier Xi Jinping. Alongside efforts by some central banks to reduce their dollar reserves,

Initially introduced as a means to achieve a better equilibrium in commercial flows, President Trump’s trade policy is now turning into a punitive measure – for alleged “violations” that often have little to do with economics. And the import/export exemptions

President Trump wanted Congress to pass his signature budget bill (the One Big Beautiful Act) ahead of the July 4 celebrations and it indeed did so. With the US government deficit set to increase sharply over the coming years, the

What if President Trump’s unpredictability were actually part of a deliberate strategy to create chaos? With the end goal of securing the financial, economic and industrial dominance of the US, and having other countries foot the bill. So far, the

The sharp drop in oil prices is both a blessing (especially for consumers and inflation indices) and a threat (for Saudi Arabia and Russia notably, amongst others). Similarly, the newfound European unity around a common defence programme involves a delicate

The financial world is currently in turmoil, with the Trump “liberation day” tariffs causing incredulity and concern amongst economists and business leaders, driving retaliatory measures by trade partners and wreaking havoc in stock markets across the globe. The underlying agenda

The past few weeks have seen the new US administration fire fast (and rather rashly) in all directions, with consequences that may, however, turn out very different to those intended. What if “America first” were to become “America only”, as

The irruption of Chinese newcomer Deepseek into the world of artificial intelligence (AI) software came as a shock to financial markets, exerting brief but intense downward pressure on US technology megacaps. To us, however, the bigger surprise was that investors