MarketWatch (February 17)
“A trillion-euro market” is arising as Europe wakes up to the end of “the post-Cold War international order with its security bargain.” The result could be “a bond market powerhouse that threatens U.S. Treasurys.” Europe now looks to be moving toward “a Eurobond market exceeding €1 trillion. This includes approximately €650 billion from the coronavirus era, €95 billion for Ukraine and several hundred billion euros from new defense facilities and national borrowing enabled by fiscal exemptions.”
Tags: €1 trillion, Cold war, Coronavirus, Defense facilities, Eurobond market, Europe, Exemptions, International order, Powerhouse, Security, Treasurys, U.S., Ukraine
New York Times (February 12)
“European leaders have stepped up their push to reduce reliance on big American tech firms like Amazon, Google and Microsoft for cloud computing, and on financial services titans like Mastercard and Visa for payment systems. The move to secure what are being labeled monetary sovereignty and digital sovereignty is part of a broader effort to reduce Europe’s dependence on American weapons, trade, technology and more.”
Tags: Amazon, Big tech, Cloud computing, Dependence, Digital sovereignty, Europe, Financial services, Google, Mastercard, Microsoft, Monetary sovereignty, Payment systems, Reliance, Technology, Trade, U.S., Visa, Weapons
Barron’s (January 27)
“Japan is the market’s ‘Big Story.’” Proposals for a “looser fiscal policy” have resulted in “big moves in the yen and Japanese government bonds that have investors increasingly on edge around the world.” Now all eyes are on the 40-year JGB auction, which really “matters for U.S. and European investors. If prices fall, sending yields higher it, it could make Japanese bonds attractive enough for local investors to move money invested abroad back to Japan.”
Tags: 40 year, Abroad, Europe, Investors, Japan, JGBs, Looser fiscal policy, Market, Money, Prices, U.S., Yen, Yields
New York Times (January 24)
“The world will remember Trump’s Greenland outburst.” The President’s “immoral threats against a loyal NATO ally have escalated a crisis in U.S.-European relations, weakened one of history’s most successful alliances and hurt American interests in tangible ways…. Leaders in Beijing and Moscow are no doubt thrilled. America is less safe than it was a week ago.”
Tags: Alliances, Ally, Beijing, Crisis, Escalated, Europe, Greenland, Immoral, Less safe, Moscow, Nato, Outburst, Threats, Thrilled, Trump, World
Financial Times (January 19)
“Trump’s bizarre designs on Greenland and his willingness to inflict financial pain on allies” mean that “the U.S. has squandered its most valuable financial asset: trust. It risks paying a heavy price for this for decades to come.” The U.S. remains the only market “big enough to absorb” giant capital flows so this “is not about ‘sell America.’” Europe is not going to sell its $8 trillion worth of Treasuries overnight. Rather, Trump’s latest move provides “a big incentive for investors to buy more bonds and stocks from elsewhere over time…. to spread things a little more globally.”
Tags: $8 trillion, Allies, Asset, Bizarre, Bonds, Capital flows, Europe, Financial pain, Greenland, Heavy price, Incentive, Investors, Risks, Sell America, Squandered, Stocks, Treasuries, Trump, Trust, U.S., Valuable
The Times (December 14)
“Time is running short for Europe to stand together. The worst-case scenario is that America walks away from its commitments entirely. Ukraine’s allies cannot afford to project weakness.” The “crunch point” has come for Europe. “Can it act in a confident, bold, unified manner? Or will it be riven by internal disagreements and petty rivalries?”
Tags: Allies, Bold, Commitments, Confident, Crunch point, Europe, Internal disagreements, Petty rivalries, U.S., Ukraine, Unified, Walks away, Weakness, Worst-case
Wall Street Journal (December 9)
President Trump promised “a manufacturing boom. He got one—in China.” Cementing its ”status as the world’s indispensable factory floor…. Chinese industrial production broke records this year as its factories churned out more cars, machinery and chemicals than ever before. Despite the disruptions of tariffs, the country’s trade surplus in goods has set a record, as growing shipments to Asia, Europe, Latin America and Africa offset the hit from Trump’s levies on direct sales to the U.S.”
Tags: Africa, Asia, Cars, Chemicals, China, Europe, Factories, Indispensable, Industrial production, Latin America, Machinery, Manufacturing boom, Shipments, Status, Tariffs, Trade surplus, Trump, U.S.
The Economist (December 6)
“EUROPE is breathing a sigh of relief” now that “the risk of such an odious stitch-up” initially put forward by Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump, “now seems to have receded a bit.” But it is not time to rest or squabble. “Enough dithering. Europe must pay to save Ukraine. America will not. Europe’s security depends on agreeing” on how to save Ukraine.
Tags: Agreeing, Dithering, Europe, Odious, Pay, Receded, Relief, Rest, Risk, Security, Squabble, Trump, U.S., Ukraine, Witkoff
Institutional Investor (December 4)
UBS released its Billionaire Ambitions Report 2025 showing that “there are now more than 3,000 billionaires globally, holding $15.8 trillion in wealth.” There were “more new, self-made billionaires being minted in the United States than anywhere else,” while Europe boasted nearly thirds of the 91 people who became billionaires through inheritance.
Tags: $15.8 trillion, Billionaires, Europe, Inheritance, Self-made, U.S., UBS, Wealth
Washington Post (November 4)
America may still be “the world’s leading scientific research power, but competition is growing more fierce.” Even though “it’s a dangerous time to dull the country’s competitive edge,” Trump’s moves against universities have done just that. “Scientists in the United States increasingly see European bureaucracy as a safer setting for conducting their cutting-edge research than their home country’s own institutions.” The European Research Council “has seen a surge in applications,” with “nearly triple the number of proposals from Americans compared with the year before.”
Tags: Applications, Bureaucracy, Competition, Competitive edge, Cutting-edge research, ERC, Europe, Fierce, Leading, Power, Proposals, Safer setting, Scientific research, Trump, U.S., Universities
