Global Macro Update

"Even before a single missile or shot at Taiwan, the market will already react." Ed sits down with Lyric Hughes Hale, editor-in-chief of EconVue, and Taiwan-based analyst Eric Huang to discuss a hidden vulnerability in global markets: Taiwanese insurance companies.

This is one of my favorite interviews of 2025. Jeff deGraaf, founder of Renaissance Macro Research, built his career translating technical analysis into actionable investment strategies for institutional clients. Hear about his market cycle clock—and why inflation matters more to stocks than GDP growth does.

Everyone worries AI will take their job. Steve Lord thinks we'll hit a bigger wall first: power. Lord is COO of Burkland Associates, which works with Andreessen Horowitz and dozens of other top VC firms. Hear about the infrastructure bottleneck facing AI, what went wrong with crypto's original promise, and Lord's advice for founders trying to raise capital in today's market.

CrossBorder Capital founder Michael Howell built his framework for tracking global liquidity while at Salomon Brothers. His central thesis: the ratio between debt and liquidity predicts financial crises and asset bubbles. Howell explains why the $350 trillion global debt pile requires $70 trillion in annual refinancing, how ZIRP created the "everything bubble," and what happens when the bill comes due.

While the Fear and Greed Index just hit "Extreme Fear" territory, Spectra Markets president Brent Donnelly says we're in more of a rotation than a panic. Brent and I talk about the AI trade—why Meta's earnings marked a shift, whether OpenAI's $500 billion valuation is defensible, and why 65% of respondents would short it. Plus, why Buffett just bet on Google.