Market Maker

In this podcast episode, Piers and I attempt to deconstruct the Elon Musk / Twitter saga and use it as a great case study to tackle some finance jargon you may have heard before. So expect some hostile actions, tender offers, leveraged buyouts, white knights, and poison pills! I also wrap up some of the main headlines in global markets this week from the hawkish pivot from the ECB and hardening of...

In this week's episode, Piers and I catch up on the news that Elon Musk has tweeted himself onto the board of Twitter causing the social media apps' share price to rocket. But does the Tesla CEO have the company's best interest at heart or is he simply a bored billionaire looking for some kicks?! I explain the context for the first round of the French election this weekend as local bond yields hav...

In this week's episode, Piers and I catch up on the announcement this week that the US is to release roughly a million barrels of oil a day from its reserves for six months beginning in May, a historic drawdown to combat rising inflation. We discuss Biden's strategy and ask the question, will it work? This week the U.S. Treasury yield curve inverted for the first time since 2019. The U.S. curve ha...

In this week's episode, I talk to co-founder Piers Curran about the strategy behind Apple's acquisition of Credit Kudos, which uses machine learning to create an alternative to traditional credit scores. Beyond the technology, we look at how the government shares your personal data and discuss the repercussions of the ever-growing 'buy now, pay later' culture. This week also saw Elon Musk&nbs...

In this episode, Piers and I catch up on what has been another busy week in markets where global stocks are on course for their best week since November 2020. We catch-up on the latest news on Ukraine, where reports midweek suggested Ukraine and Russia have made significant progress on a tentative peace plan including a ceasefire and Russian withdrawal if Kyiv declares neutrality and accepts limit...

This week, Nickel, used in stainless steel and electric-vehicle batteries, surged as much as 250% in just two days to trade briefly above $100,000 a ton, in what otherwise can only be described as a parabolic move. Xiang Guangda a.k.a 'Big Shot' -- who controls the world’s largest nickel producer, Tsingshan Holding Group Co. was the main culprit behind the move, having amassed a sho...

After a week off the desk, it's great to be back with co-founder and head of trading Piers Curran to discuss what's been happening in markets this week. We take a deep-dive into the latest news on Russia, where ongoing fighting has resulted in the biggest weekly increase in commodity prices since the 1973 oil crisis. The impact has been severe. The Dow Jones Russia GDR Index, which tracks London-t...

In this episode, I speak to Bilal Hafeez who is the founder and CEO of Macro Hive. Before starting his own research firm in 2019, Bilal was the Global Head of International Fixed Income Strategy at Nomura, and Head of Multi-Asset Research and Advisor to the CEO at Deutsche Bank. Although Bilal has had phenomenal success in his career to date there have been many experiences and challenges tha...

In this week’s episode, I am joined for the first time ever by Amplify Co-Founder Will de Lucy to talk about this week’s global market volatility as well as some insights into how to become a successful founder. We chat about: How it is possible for the NASDAQ to rally 5% into the US close yesterday despite Russia invading Ukraine. Reasons behind why Oil rallied 7.5% and then reversed the entire m...

The career insight series is back and this time I am joined by Ayman Rahman, the CEO & founder of energy tech trading firm DARE. Our connection with Ayman goes back over 10 years when as a student at UCL he spent time training with Amplify learning the ropes in our prop trading division. Upon graduation, Ayman obtained a trading analyst position at a commodity derivatives trading firm and with...

In this week's episode, I am joined by Eddie Donmez to talk about all the trending topics in markets this week. We discuss the YTD performance for US stocks and look at what the sector performance in the S&P 500 tells us about current economic conditions and the market's confidence in the Fed being able to manage the pressure of surging inflation.  An update on the latest news c...

Really exciting news to announce this week, as US investment bank Morgan Stanley is now the official global sponsor of our AmplifyME Finance Accelerator. It's been amazing to see the impact the initiative has had since launching in September and with the help of Morgan Stanley, we can now reach more individuals than ever. I encourage anyone who has not yet taken part in the simulation to give it a...

In this episode, Piers and I delve into some of the important new stories this week from mega-cap tech earnings to central bank decisions and even a quick word on the incredible Rafael Nadal! First up for debate is Meta (Facebook) whose shares collapsed following their latest earnings report. The reaction was compounded by a number of factors, not just the top-line figures. We discuss us...

The Masterclass speaker series is back by popular demand, aiming to help students get the real truth behind different careers in finance.  To mark the occasion I hosted an incredible guest, Alfonso Peccatiello. Alf is the author of The Macro Compass and was previously the Head of Investment Portfolio for the Treasury department of ING Germany. There, he was in charge of the active management...

In this episode, I talk to co-founder Piers Curran about the latest FOMC meeting where Fed Chair Jerome Powell backed a March liftoff and said would not rule out a hike at every meeting. Markets are now pricing in the probability of 5 rate hikes this year and even the prospect of a rate 50bps move at the March meeting, but is this expectation right, or will the Fed change tactics once more? W...

The episode covers a quickfire round-up of the main news this week, from Biden's comments on Russia to Brent crude oil hitting a fresh 7-year high, before taking a deep dive in the race to the Metaverse following Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.  We explore the rationale behind the huge amount of cash being spent by big tech firms to position for the future and ask the que...

Microsoft has announced a $69bln bid for Activision Blizzard in what will be the biggest tech deal in history. The move will give the tech giant access to Activision’s 390 million monthly users and headline franchises such as Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Candy Crush. Gaming is likely to play a key role in the development of the Metaverse and the deal is likely to result in further consolidation in...

As always, I'm joined by co-founder Piers Curran to discuss the major stories in markets this week, from a 39 year high in US CPI and earnings reports from J.P. Morgan and BlackRock, to Kim Kardashian being sued over promoting alt-coin EthereumMax as part of an alleged crypto scam. We also catch up on what has been another horrendous week for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson who is u...

Happy New Year! In this episode, I talk to co-founder Piers Curran, about what a surge in US yields means for the global financial markets. We discuss the catalyst behind the move, how this influences equity sector positioning and why even crypto traders should be monitoring this development. We also touch on some of the trending stories of the week, from Apple briefly hitting a $3trl market cap a...

In this episode, I talk to Jayne Howson who is a Senior Vice President at Salesforce in their Global Sales Leader Excellence & Enablement team. Having had limited interest in education growing up, Jayne started waiting on tables from the age of 9 and then went to secure her place at college by electing to work part-time at Barclays, arranging company-wide team building events from the age...

In this final episode of the year, I talk to co-founder Piers Curran about UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who faces a potential rebellion after announcing 'Plan B' measures amid discontent over his handling of Christmas parties last year when the nation was in lockdown. What is the government's strategy? what would Plan C look like? and what does this mean for the Bank of England and the ti...

In this episode, I talk to co-founder Piers Curran about the three key areas to monitor to ascertain the impact of Omicron on the global economy. From transmissibility, to vaccine escape and lethality, we look at the timeline necessary to make a more accurate forecast. We then discuss the latest US jobs report and the surprising pivot from the Federal Reserve to become much more haw...

In this week's episode, I talk to Piers about a new variant of the coronavirus (B.1.1.529) which has been identified in South Africa. Although case rates are low, early signs suggest the new variant is out-competing others far faster than Beta and even Delta. We review how markets have reacted and what to look out for next. The other big story of the week was that US President Joe Biden announced...

In this episode, I talk to Xiao about the dreaded stock pitch, the moment in an interview where the floor is yours and it's time to deliver! We look at how to structure your pitch, the level of depth to go into, and the secret to coming across in the right way. To help bring the discussion to life there are also some real-life examples for good measure. Some good, some bad! Sign up for the Daily M...

In this week's episode, Piers and I kick off with a look at the explosion in electric vehicle (EV) pure plays such as Lucid and Rivian and discuss why we think this is a bubble and other strategic ways to play the EV long game. We also touch on the increasing policy divergence emerging between Europe and the US/UK as COVID cases in the former continue to rise against rampant inflation in the latte...