MARKETS HAPPY HOUR PODCAST

In today's Markets Happy Hour Podcast we conduct a "review" of the drama (and at times melodrama) that has played out at Davos this year, and digest what it has meant for markets. We are joined by CIO and founder of Vistamark and former CIO of the consulting firm Fiducient – Matt Rice, who works with institutional investors and shares his insights on market dynamics and portfolio construction. Starting at our usual starting point of inflation Matt shares his view of the long term deflationary impact that AI is likely to have we touch on the impact of the oil price weakness that will in the more immediate term depress prices. Turning then to the economic "vibe check" we note the sensitivity of equity markets to the prevailing geopolitical drama around both the rhetoric on Greenland as well as the on-again/off-again tariff announcement on European countries. The uncertainty over recent days has been reflected in equity markets, which clearly still show some sensitivity to geopolitical risk, and the ascent of metals continues – clearly reflecting a risk aversion and a concern about currency debasement. Oil, on the other hand, remains flat – reflecting high inventories and only some sensitivity to geopolitical news (in this case the news from Iran). Moving to other sources of risk, even Secretary Bessent has attributed some of this week's weakness in US equity markets to the dramatic movements in the Japanese long dated government bond market over the past week. In what may be Japan's Liz Truss moment (echoing the weakness in UK markets which ultimately led to the downfall of Prime Minster Liz Truss towards the end of 2022). In recent developments the Japanese 40 year bond yield had surpassed 4% for the first time, while the 30 year bond had never suffered such a large drop in a single day. In our discussion Matt suggests that this correction was well overdue and could be the canary in the coal mine for other economies with high levels of government debt. We end our discussion with a reflection on Europe, firmly in the cross-hairs now at Davos, and remind ourselves of the positive impact on European defense stocks that has been a direct response to the challenge from President Trump, as well as on some of the other areas said to be trailing (IT infrastructure) as well as "financial plumbing".