Street Signals

Following a week of sharp equity market volatility centered on concerns in the technology sector, this week’s episode is a timely reminder that some risks might take longer to appreciate and understand. Specifically, as the race to develop sophisticated AI tools accelerates, cybersecurity challenges will inevitably rise. Michael McNair is an analyst and portfolio manager at the Retirement Sy...

A surprisingly strong midterm election for US Democrats opens a myriad of questions for markets. From the scale of AI investment to the path of the Iran conflict, the changes in the makeup of the US government carry significant financial implications. Noel Dixon and Cayla Seder , senior macro strategists from our team in the US, join the podcast for a wrap-up and look ahead. See omnystudio.com/lis...

Big headlines have come and gone in 2026, but markets have barely blinked. This week we explore why volatility remains so subdued, what investors may be overlooking and the macro and market catalysts that could finally disturb the calm. Lee Ferridge, Head of Macro Strategy for the Americas at State Street Markets , joins the podcast with his thoughts as a surprisingly benign year nears a close. Se...

Japanese life insurers manage one of the largest pools of foreign savings in the world, and their decisions about where to put it and whether to hedge it ripple through global bond markets and the yen. With domestic rates normalising, the story of persistent yen weakness may be starting to change. In this episode, we sit down with Shintaro Yoshida, CIO of Orix Life Insurance , to discuss how risin...

Nearly four years after the release of the first widely available large language models, the investing implications of artificial intelligence have so far been clear: it has been a very good idea to be long the AI factor. But we are no closer to understanding just how powerful artificial intelligence is and might be across the wider range of human experience. This week, we kick off a series of occ...

It's easy to get side-tracked by the day-to-day minutiae of markets, and taking a step back to get the bigger picture is often a good idea.  Chris Pizzotti, Global Head of FX Sales and Trading at State Street Markets , is an ideal person to have just such a conversation. This week, we get Chris’ thoughts on the big trends in currency markets in 2026 and how he thinks they’ll play...

FX carry trades - earning the yield spread available between two typically risky and safe currencies - is a long-standing theme in markets, which has also enjoyed excellent risk-adjusted returns over the last year. But with rate markets becoming more disruptive, are these strategies at risk? This week, we look at the positioning and pricing in currencies exposed to carry trades, on both the long a...

Last week's strong US CPI data left a Fed rate hike this week a foregone conclusion and likely inaugurates at least a modest hiking cycle. Inflation pressures are broad and not strictly energy-related, arguing for tighter policy globally. But does one key source of inflation, the AI build-out, need to break, to get price stability back on target? And what does that mean for an asset allocation str...

After years of the market anticipating strength in the Japanese yen, it might finally be here. Aided by official Japanese intervention in the currency and hints of collaboration with the United States, a correction of the JPY’s long-standing perceived undervaluation would make for one of the most meaningful currency trends of the last decade. But why now? Will the yen strength of recent weeks last...

Almost no matter where you look, bond yields are making new multi-decade highs, with concerns growing that rising debt servicing costs in high debt economies risk a snow-balling effect that culminates in a fiscal crisis. As if that weren’t enough, risk markets, particularly equities and credit, still appear oblivious to the potential for upset. After a pivotal week of speeches and pronouncements f...

August often brings important messaging shifts from the Federal Reserve, with their Jackson Hole Symposium, scheduled for 28-29 August, the usual forum. And we often speak to Marvin Loh, Senior Macro Strategist on our Americas team , about it. Unique circumstances might limit headline risk this year, but that's not for a lack of discussion material. Questions over the tightness of the labor market...

As markets enter vacation mode, this week's podcast presents our annual summer overview of the proprietary indicators available from State Street Markets and how they map to the most relevant themes driving assets and currencies. The sustainability of the tech trade in equities, the near-term path of inflation and the direction of travel for the Federal Reserve and how they feed into a rate, curve...

The passing of Alan Greenspan last month and confirmation of Kevin Warsh as Federal Reserve Chairman in May bookend two booms is US productivity: the mass networking of computing power during the Greenspan Fed of the 1990s and the explosion of inferential applications of computing power today. These cycles influence central bank policy in ways often underappreciated until their aftermath. Marvin B...

The need for robust and enhanced defense spending in an increasingly fragmented world is a policy objective agreed upon across the political divide. Few are better positioned to comment on the obstacles and opportunities of the process than Sir Ben Wallace, a former Captain in the British Army, a member of Parliament for 20 years and Secretary of State for Defense of the United Kingdom between 201...

With so many unanswered questions about the direction of US domestic politics and the role the United States now plays in the world, few can bring the experience and depth of knowledge of the political process as this weeks guest, Mick Mulvaney . Mick is a former elected member of the US House of Representatives for South Carolina, serving four terms before joining the first Trump administration i...

Few people are better positioned to comment on current trends in media and politics than Alastair Campbell . After a long career in journalism and politics, serving as UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's Press Secretary and Downing Street Director of Communications and Strategy, Alastair now co-hosts The Rest Is Politics, the most popular politics podcast in the UK. This wide-ranging discussion covers...

As the podcast starts its fourth year, we take a look back this week: to its origins, how the content and message have changed over the years, what guests stood out as formative to building the audience and the lessons learned about macro and markets along the way. In a twist, the microphone gets turned around as well, with our host, Tim Graf , taking a turn as a guest. Ramu Thiagarajan, Head of T...

This week we explore the evolving US-China relationship and the drivers of the stellar equity market performance in Asia this year, joined by Dwyfor Evans, Head of Macro Strategy for Asia at State Street Markets . The recent summit meeting of US President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping marked a thawing of relations but considerable questions remain around how the two countries will navigat...

As impressive the recent bounce in stocks has been, it is a R ally I n N ame O nly. Large cap tech companies dominate returns, while almost everything else - whether at a country or a sector level - continues to struggle. With inflation spiking and interest rate markets starting to show signs of dislocation, it is worth asking if the concentration of returns carries with it the seeds of its own un...

To kick off State Street’s series of global research events, we are joined by research partner Alberto Cavallo, co-founder of PriceStats and Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School . In this wide-ranging discussion of inflationary dynamics, we assess the last ten years of recurring price shocks and how much inflationary regimes and the price sensitivities of retailers and c...

Wednesday’s hopeful news of a possible end to hostilities in Iran and opening of the Strait of Hormuz comes just as the macro impact of events is starting to be felt and seen in economic data. A resolution does not change the realities of high near-term inflation and the varying policy responses to it. Geopolitical disruptions are still going to resonate for some time. This week, we speak to Noel...

Short-term market conditions remain subject to the headlines. Long-term questions of US equity market performance and whether investors require a rethink of their asset allocation preferences are the same and as valid today as they were before the eruption of Middle East hostilities. This week, Dan Gerard, senior multi-asset strategist for State Street Markets , talks to us about a new piece on th...

In a decade full of seismic geopolitical events, the conflict in Iran had the potential to rank amongst the most impactful. Yet financial markets never priced it as more than a fleeting instance of volatility. And now, the most severe dislocations are almost fully closed with the onset of talks to deescalate tensions. Question marks remain over energy supplies and the macroeconomic impacts of high...

Many of the consequences of the latest disruption to global energy supply have yet to surface. While oil has been the immediate focus, volatility across global interest rate curves is emerging as an equally consequential second-order effect. Markets are rapidly reassessing the scale and timing of inflation and growth shocks – and how central banks are likely to respond. Whether this period of uphe...

As the conflict in the Middle East enters a third week, markets remain uneasy but resilient. Lessons absorbed during past geopolitical shocks have so far kept this a slow-burn test of positioning and risk tolerance, rather than a volatility event with a specific breaking point. This week, we speak with Lee Ferridge, Head of Macro Strategy for the Americas for State Street Markets as to whether thi...