The Decisive Podcast: Insights and analysis to empower confident decision-making.

In this episode of The Decisive , host Kristen Hallam speaks with Ken Wattret, vice president of global economics at S&P Global Market Intelligence, about frequently asked client questions on the recent oil shock, the conflict in the Middle East and the possible implications for the global economy. The conversation was originally recorded on May 12 and considers how the jump in crude prices compar...

At midyear 2026, agility is no longer just a strategic advantage — it is a requirement for navigating structural change. In part two of this two-part series, The Decisive host Kristen Hallam continues the conversation with S&P Global Market Intelligence experts Ken Wattrett, Laurence Allan and Eric Johnson to explore how AI is showing up across the three strategic themes for 2026 outlined in the A...

At midyear 2026, volatility is no longer the backdrop — it is the operating environment. In this episode, host Kristen Hallam is joined by S&P Global Market Intelligence experts Ken Wattrett, Laurence Allan and Eric Johnson to revisit the Age of Agility strategic themes: shaky economic foundations, shifting asymmetric power and adapting to trade realities. The panel examines what has changed for d...

In this episode of The Decisive podcast, host Kristen Hallam shares highlights from a recent S&P Global Market Intelligence client webinar on the forces reshaping procurement strategy. The conversation explores how prolonged disruption in the Middle East is moving beyond energy markets and into broader supply chains, affecting shipping, chemicals, metals and industrial inputs. S&P Global Market In...

AI is reshaping more than software — it's putting intense pressure on the global semiconductor supply chain. In this special cross-post from  Data & Dimensions ,  The Decisive  brings you a timely conversation on how surging demand for AI infrastructure is driving a shortage of DRAM memory, raising costs across consumer technology, and forcing companies to rethink production, pricing, and inventor...

In this episode of  The Decisive Podcast , we examine the future of the US-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement at a moment of heightened political uncertainty and rising strategic tension across North America. With trilateral trade reaching roughly $1.8 trillion in the 12 months to August 2025, the stakes are high for governments, investors, and manufacturers alike as the 2026 review process unfolds. Dr...

In this episode, taken from our May 19 client webinar, our economists unpack a high-stakes U.S. macro outlook shaped by geopolitical conflict, higher energy prices, sticky inflation, and change at the helm of the Federal Reserve.  US GDP growth held up well in 2025, even as businesses and households faced historically high tariffs, volatility in financial markets and elevated uncertainty. This yea...

Artificial intelligence is no longer a future story — it is already shaping how companies invest, how governments respond, and how labor markets evolve. But adoption is unfolding unevenly, with major differences across sectors, firm sizes, and regions. In this episode, taken from a May 13 client webinar, we take a global look at the realities of AI adoption and its economic consequences. The discu...

In this May 2026 episode of The Decisive Podcast, S&P Global Market Intelligence economists Paul Smith, Eleanor Dennison, and Andrew Harker dissect the latest Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) data to reveal how ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are reshaping the global economic landscape. The team explores the ripple effects of supply chain disruptions, energy price surges, and heig...

In this episode of The Decisive, host Kristen Hallam explores the murky world of maritime identity manipulation—a growing threat that's reshaping global shipping, sanctions enforcement, and international trade. Joined by maritime risk and compliance expert Jeremy Domballe, Kristen unpacks how vessels can alter their digital, physical, and legal identities to operate undetected on the world's ocean...

The global economy is facing its weakest growth outlook since 2009. What happens when geopolitical conflict collides with an already fragile energy market? In this episode of The Decisive, we examine the cascading macroeconomic impacts of recent global disruptions and the resulting negative supply shocks that have forced economists to revise their forecasts. With global real GDP growth downgraded...

As pivotal elections approach in the United States, Brazil, and Ethiopia, global businesses are navigating a rapidly evolving landscape of risks and opportunities. In this episode of The Decisive Podcast, host Kristen Hallam is joined by S&P Global Market Intelligence experts John Raines (Head of North America Country Risk), Rafael Amiel (Head of Latin America Economics), and Jordan Anderson (Prin...

In this episode of The Decisive Podcast, host Kristen Hallam is joined by S&P Global Market Intelligence economist Yan Hoong for an outlook on the electronics and semiconductor landscape through 2026—taken from a March 12 client webinar.  Yan explains why memory remains a big source of procurement and pricing anxiety, with tightness persisting in both advanced and conventional memory as suppliers...

In the first episode of season 6 of The Decisive podcast, S&P Global Market Intelligence's Jason Kaplan unpacks why 2026 is shaping up as a "risk-on" commodities environment—with steady but subdued global growth, rising volatility, and a deepening flight to safety that's pushing risk premiums across key markets. Jason, a senior economist in the Pricing and Purchasing team, connects macroeconomic s...

In our last episode of Season 5, host Kristen Hallam sits down with Chris Rogers, S&P Global Market Intelligence's head of supply chain research, to analyze the moments when supply chains gets stressed—and the playbooks that keep goods moving anyway. From ongoing Red Sea security disruptions that forced ocean carriers to reroute around the Cape of Good Hope, reshaping transit times, capacity, and...

As the global transition to clean energy, advanced technology, and artificial intelligence accelerates, the demand for critical minerals—including copper, lithium, and rare earth elements—is reshaping supply chains and intensifying geopolitical competition. In this episode of The Decisive Podcast, host Kristen Hallam leads a discussion with S&P Global Market Intelligence experts to examine the evo...

In this episode of The Decisive Podcast from S&P Global Market Intelligence, host Paul Smith, Economics Director, is joined by fellow economists Sian Jones and Andrew Harker to unpack the role of Purchasing Managers' Indices (PMI) in tracking economic trends across more than 40 countries and multiple sectors. They explore how PMI data offers a timely alternative to official statistics, helping org...

The US labor market is no longer running hot — but it isn't freezing up, either. In this episode of The Decisive, S&P Global Market Intelligence economist Juan Turcios unpacks what a "softening" labor market really looks like in late 2025 and into 2026, and why the headline numbers don't tell the whole story. We dig into the sharp slowdown in payroll growth since the post-pandemic boom, the steady...

A wave of landmark elections across Japan, Thailand, and Bangladesh is reshaping the political map of Asia—and creating new signals for investors, multinationals, and supply-chain decision-makers. In this episode, we break down what the results mean for regional security, economic strategy, and the business operating environment over the next 12–24 months. We start in Japan, where Prime Minister S...

In this episode of The Decisive, Ken Wattret, Vice President of Global Economics at S&P Global Market Intelligence, assesses the global macroeconomic landscape, highlighting that the world economy is proving more resilient than markets might suggest, even as volatility remains elevated.  Ken unpacks how geopolitical flashpoints and trade-policy uncertainty are rippling through financial and commod...

In this episode, taken from a Feb. 4 client webinar, host Kristen Hallam, along with experts John Raines, Jack Kennedy, and Jeffery McElroy, dive into the complexities of geopolitical volatility around the globe. As tensions rise over Iran's nuclear ambitions and the U.S. military strategy, the discussion explores potential pathways to escalation and their global implications. Discover how militar...

Agentic AI can move supply chains from reactive "triage" to smarter, faster decision-making. In this episode of The Decisive, S&P Global Market Intelligence's Brendan Neary joins host Kristen Hallam to unpack today's biggest supply-chain pain points—volatility, complexity, and constant disruption driven by forces like weather, policy shifts, and geopolitics—and why risk mitigation has become a dai...

Stablecoins are designed to keep a steady value—by pegging to a reserve asset like the US dollar—while delivering the speed and lower cost of blockchain-based payments. In this episode of The Decisive, S&P Global Market Intelligence economist Robert Matthee unpacks how stablecoins work, why their market has surged to an estimated $300 billion, and what's driving forecasts that the space could expa...

The US Federal Reserve is always in the spotlight, and that spotlight is brighter than ever in 2026. In this episode of The Decisive, economist Lawrence Nelson , our resident Fed expert at S&P Global Market Intelligence, breaks down why the central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates steady at its January meeting, and what "sticky" inflation could mean for the first part of the year. We...

As global trade faces unprecedented disruption, shippers must rethink everything from cost containment to risk management. In this episode of the Decisive Podcast, host Kristen Hallam sits down with Peter Tirschwell , Vice President for Maritime & Trade at S&P Global Market Intelligence and TPM Conference founder, to break down the theme of TPM26: "Taking Costs Out, Putting Value In." Together, th...