The IRF Podcast

David Osman of IRF is joined by Paul Cavey, the Founder of East Asia Econ. ----more---- In this podcast, Paul Cavey of East Asia Econ explains that there are two terms of trades shocks playing through in East Asia at present, one positive, one negative. He points out that the A.I. boom and the strength of the global semiconductor sector have helped the stock markets of Japan, South Korea and Taiwa...

David Osman of IRF is joined by Dinny McMahon, the Head of China Markets Research at Trivium China. ----more---- In this podcast, Dinny McMahon assesses China’s economic policies and the underlying state of the economy, including the ongoing deep-rooted problems in the property sector. Dinny then discusses the extent to which China might continue to fail to achieve its objective of a consumption-l...

David Osman of IRF is joined by Carl Weinberg the Founder, Managing Director and Chief Economist at High Frequency Economics. In this podcast Carl Weinberg assesses the latest data and discusses the risks to the outlook for the US economy, with particular reference to the impact on economic growth and consumer price inflation of a labour market that has reached the level of full employment. Carl t...

David Osman of IRF is joined by Jeffrey Christian, the Founder and Managing Partner of the CPM Group. ----more---- In this podcast Jeffrey Christian provides an informative rundown on the outlook for commodity investments in 2026 and beyond. He begins with an assessment of the prospects for the demand, supply and prices of precious metals, both in the near term and in the longer run. In the energy...

David Osman of IRF is joined by Ron William, the Founder of RW Advisory. ----more---- This podcast assesses the longer-term cyclical factors that indicate global financial markets could reach a major turning point in 2026 or later in this decade. Ron discusses the outlook for inflation and the various elements that could create an echo of the high-inflation era of the 1970s. This has further bulli...

David Osman of IRF is joined by Paul Cavey, the Founder of East Asia Econ. ----more---- In this podcast, Paul Cavey discusses the various cyclical and structural themes that are influencing the economic outlook for China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. He explains why he thinks that the overall deflationary forces within the Chinese economy may be easing and why there is scope for some cautious op...

David Osman of IRF is joined by David Murrin, the Founder of Global Forecaster. ----more---- In this podcast they discuss David Murrin's ‘5 Stages of Empire’ model and the influence of longer run cyclical trends on geopolitical risks, political factors, the world economic outlook and the prospects for the global financial markets. David assesses the deep-seated problems in the USA and the damage t...

David Osman of IRF is joined by Helen Thomas, the Founder & CEO of Blonde Money. ----more---- In this podcast they discuss the increasing focus on fiscal policy relative to monetary policy in the highly-indebted developed world and the consequent growth in the importance of political risk analysis.  Helen then assesses some of the geopolitical, political and economic risk factors that will inf...

David Osman of IRF is joined by Dimitris Valatsas, the Chief Economist at Auroa Macro Strategies. ----more---- In this podcast they discuss the prospects for US economy and the financial markets. Dimitris considers the impact of the Trump Administration’s immigration policies on a weakening labour market. He also assesses the outlook for US monetary policy with particular reference to the prospect...

David Osman of IRF is joined by James Burdass, the Managing Partner at Commodity Intelligence to discuss the evolving role of commodities in a global multi-asset portfolio. ----more---- In doing so, he assesses the importance for investors of the way that the global markets for many individual commodities are fracturing and becoming more fragmented with regional factors becoming more important. Ja...

David Osman of IRF is joined by Ron William, the Founder of RW Advisory. ----more---- In this episode they discuss the longer run cyclical trends and other factors that are likely to influence the global financial markets during the remainder of this year and beyond. Ron outlines how, in the near term, financial markets are generally seen as being in a volatile trading range, due in part to the on...

David Osman of IRF is joined by Hamza Ghani, the Head of Crypto Research at ABCG Research. ----more---- In this podcast, Hamza explains the rapidly evolving crypto asset landscape from Bitcoin and altcoins to stablecoins and tokenized instruments. In doing so, he reviews the emerging regulatory environment and discusses other important factors, such as upgrades to the blockchain infrastructure and...

David Osman of IRF is joined by Manoj Pradhan, the Co-Founder of Talking Heads Macro. ----more---- In this podcast, Manoj Pradhan discusses the global structural factors that are pointing towards a potential regime change in the rate of inflation, with reference to such factors as ageing populations, immigration policies, deglobalisation and artificial intelligence. He assesses the extent to which...

The IRF is joined by Helen Thomas, the Founder & CEO of Blonde Money. ----more---- In this podcast Helen discusses the nature and extent of the various uncertainties that have been created by the Trump Administration and those policies designed to “Make America Great Again”. From a geopolitical perspective, Helen discusses President Trump’s approach to the Sino-US relationship, the Russian war...

David Osman of IRF is joined by Jonathan Wilmot of Wilmot ML. In this podcast, Jonathan Wilmot discusses the future development of artificial intelligence with particular reference to the USA, China and the broader Macro implications. He then assesses President Trump’s agenda for his second term and notes that Trump is “an old man in a big hurry”. This is creating some uncertainties, not least the...

In this podcast Ron William of RW Advisory discusses the cyclical trends and other factors that will be having an impact on the global financial markets in 2025 and beyond. Ron assesses the investment implications for the currency, bond, equity and commodity markets. In doing so, he highlights some key non-consensus views. In the currency markets, Ron points out the key support levels for the US d...

David Osman of the IRF is joined by Jeffrey Christian, the founder and managing partner of the CPM Group. Jeffrey Christian has been a prominent analyst and advisor on the commodities markets since the 1970s, with work spanning precious metals, energy markets, base metals, the agricultural markets and economic analysis. In this podcast Jeffrey provides a wide-ranging rundown on the outlook for com...

David Osman of IRF is joined by Sharmila Whelan, the Founder of Westbourne Research. ----more---- In this podcast, Sharmila Whelan explains the business cycle foundations of her investment strategy and global asset allocation guidelines. She discusses the potential impact of the Trump 2.0 Administration on US domestic and foreign policies. Sharmila then assesses the outlook for world public debt i...

David Osman of IRF is joined by Paul Cavey, the Founder of East Asia Econ. ----more---- In this podcast, Paul Cavey discusses the various cyclical, geopolitical, political and structural factors that are influencing the economic outlook for China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Paul assesses how the policies of the Trump 2.0 Administration could impact on the East Asian region. He compares the sit...

David Osman of the IRF is joined by James Lucier, the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Capital Alpha Partners. ----more---- In this podcast, James Lucier discusses the quality of the appointments that president-elect Donald Trump is making for his next administration that begins on 20th January 2025. James then assesses the outlook for fiscal, monetary, trade and regulatory policies in the next...

In this podcast, Callum Thomas of Topdown Charts compares the current global interest rate cycle with the 3 previous ones. He points out what is different this time and what that might mean for the length and depth of this cycle. Callum then assesses the prospects for a reacceleration of economic growth and the associated risk of a resurgence in the rate of inflation. He discusses the implications...

Paul Hodges, Founder of New Normal Consulting draws on over 30 years of experience in the chemicals, energy and IT industries to outline the most likely scenarios in the wake of the recent US Presidential election, asking to what extent Donald Trump will be able to implement his stated agenda given the secular forces at work in the global economy. ----more---- Hodges sets the scene through his ana...

Brian highlighted significant concerns about the Chinese economy, emphasising that its investment-led growth model is collapsing, with a real estate crisis leading to multi-trillion-dollar losses and debt deflation risks. He expressed scepticism about the effectiveness of anticipated stimulus measures, noting that while they may provide temporary support, they are unlikely to fundamentally change...

Helen Thomas of Blonde Money presents a three-part analysis of Rachel Reeves’ budget approach, focusing on her ideological foundations, probable budget content, and projected market impact. Thomas examines Reeves’ underlying ideology, shaped by a socialist perspective highlighted in her Mais lecture, where Reeves critiques modern capitalism's failure to enhance growth, democratic engagement, and l...

We hosted a group call on “Investing in Emerging Markets” with Manoj Pradhan, Talking Heads Macro and Jon Anderson, Emerging Advisors Group and JP Smith. JP kicked off the session by advocating for nuanced investment strategies and skilled active management rather than viewing EMs as a single asset class. Manoj argued that significant stress often drives reform, as seen in India. He highlighted Br...