Markets Happy Hour Podcast May 6, 2026: Model Comparisons - Live from Singapore

Salon with Prof Alison Taylor of NYU: Corporate Power and Responsibility -

Alison Taylor is a clinical professor in the Business and Society Program at NYU Stern School of Business. She teaches ethics, sustainability, and leadership courses to undergraduate, MBA and EMBA students. She holds senior advisor roles at KKR and Unilever, is an Ethical Systems collaborator and a Senior Advisor at Enlighten. She is also LinkedIn Top Voice, a member of the FT Moral Money advisory board and the author of the successful “Higher Ground” substack. We gathered together a salon of industry participants in London to debate some of the recent topics that Alison has broached, including in particular: The Shift in workplace culture, whereby Alison argues that "Your whole self was never the point". She makes the point that leaders now more often focus on the workflow and replacement of the workflow with new production functions. This raise the question: What is the economy for? And the erosion of trust? If we do not trust people, will we trust AI? We ask if we are in a Zero Trust economy? Or a depleted trust economy? The integration of AI into our workplaces and customer experiences is having an effect on how we behave and who we trust. We ask what are the broader/long-term implications of a zero-trust economy. Moving to the question of whether good governance is still in effect - we ask whether too much complexity – e.g. AI models, quantum computing, is eroding corporate governance. Our salon saw considerable discussion around the pace of change and adoption of AI, what is being lost or threatened in this process, as well as the challenges presented to employees.

Markets Happy Hour Podcast - June 10, 2026 - Live from Dublin - Our Better Nature

In this week's Markets Happy Hour Podcast, which comes to you live from Dublin, we take our usual tour through market dynamics but take a detour into nature finance, thanks to our hosts in Dublin – Gresham House Asset Management Ireland. We discuss inflation that is moving incontrovertibly in the wrong direction (citing the recent 4.2% print in the US) as well as the shifting stance of Central Banks, which is firmly towards tightening now, with Japan expected to be next and the ECB not far behind. The jobs narrative has taken a stark turn, probably as much for PR reasons as anything else – with the AI IPOs fast approaching. This sits at odds with an increasing wave of anti-AI populism as well as angst regarding AI’s march, and we turn to the Gresham House guests to reflect on whether this same angst and populism is in evidence in Ireland and the EU more generally. We discuss the grid investments in Ireland, which may be lacking, as well as the current consumer sentiment, as it relates to inflation and AI more generally. Moving then to nature finance, we discuss the enduring characteristics of this asset class, particularly around inflation participation, long term investment characteristics, low volatility and return potential. We discuss investor sentiment, where the asset class fits in the portfolio and whether this will ever be an asset class suitable for retail investors.

Markets Happy Hour Podcast - Live in Dallas with Christie Townsend (aka @ROIChristie)

In today's Markets Happy Hour Podcast - the second of the week - we have a fascinating conversation with Christie Townsend, long-time institutional investor (with the X/Twitter persona @ ROI Christie) with an audience of other senior allocators in Dallas. Our conversation is wonderfully rich - starting with inflation and the divergence between Main Street and Wall Street inflation and moving to the economic vibes with a focus on Texas in particular. As a pro growth state enjoying a real estate boom, and a shift in the percentage of state revenues that come from energy, "drilling in" to the economic vibes in Texas gives an interesting insight into the US more broadly - and we speak about a two speed USA. We have a particularly vigorous debate about policy safety nets and whether there are a good or a bad thing. We reflect on the policy intervention during Covid and the price that was ultimately paid for that - the spike in inflation and the K shaped economy that resulted. We move then to equity market momentum and the impact of FOMO and the analysis of the upcoming SpaceX IPO. We end with geopolitics and the role that this is playing today.

Markets Happy Hour Podcast - A Conversation in Clayton - Featuring Cynthia Kirkpatrick

In this week's Markets Happy Hour Podcast - the first of two this week, we feature my Moneta colleague Cynthia Kirkpatrick for a "Conversation in Clayton". In beautiful Clayton we discuss our usual five lenses of the Markets Happy Hour Podcast with the perspective of Cynthia's private client base. This unique "view from Main Street" includes insights on inflation as it is being experienced by clients as well as persistently high mortgage rates (which are getting higher as the Fed seems stuck). We ask if these higher rates are deterring home sales or downsizing moves, and then look at the growing cash pile - as expressed by the soaring amount in money market funds - which now exceeds $8.3 trillion. This dry powder pile will essentially act as a backstop on markets as momentum and FOMO continue to drive flows. We do a quick consumer vibe check on AI before then moving to behavior around portfolio construction and time horizon. With thanks to JJ Kirkpatrick for the exquisite video work.

Markets Happy Hour Podcast - May 28, 2026 - Don’t Stop me Now

In this week's Markets Happy Hour Podcast we reflect on a short - and in many places - sweltering - week in markets that was punctuated with two bombshells from Italy - the pope weighing in on AI and humanity as well as the ridiculed Ferrari EV - Luce. Clearly everyone is in a race - to the top or the bottom remains to be seen. Inflation numbers in the US continue to be challenging and we show in particular how wages have continued to be under pressure – as real wages are ticking down across the board. This is particularly linked to consumer sentiment and we know that consumer sentiment has been particularly low in the US, so this is another indicator of prolonged pain for the lower end consumer. In other “vibe” checks we reflect on a suggestion that there are now fewer policy tools – such as policy put – available to any central banks as a way to calm markets. Looking at the massive boost in market caps across the board we reflect on the three new members of the $1 trillion club in Asia – Samsung, TSMC and SK Hynix, which have represented the bulk of the recent outperformance in Asia. Other equity market datapoints are the deterioration of the S&P dividend yield as well as the equity market risk premium raising the question as to whether investors are being paid to take risk. We touch on the latest funding round secured by Anthropic as it races to the finish line to its pending IPO. The arms race for funding rounds and to IPO is clearly picking up pace, and all US stock markets have moved in a surge of momentum. We end with a reflection on emerging market risks and note how the likelihood of downward GDP revisions has gone up while both inflation and policy rates are also likely to rise. This is all linked to the outbreak of hostilities in Iran and is yet more evidence as to how Asia and Europe have seen the brunt of the current war much more than that of the US.