Latest Interviews
Showing 61–75 of 757 interview transcripts.
Clear all filters- The Economist6 min
Is Colombia heading for its most polarised election yet? | The Economist
Colombia faces a highly volatile presidential election defined by record violence and drug production, featuring three distinct contenders: the austere hard-left Ivan Cepeda, the spectacle-driven hard-right populist Abelardo de la Espiella, and the establishment center-right candidate Paloma Valencia. Cepeda and de la Espiella currently lead the polls by leveraging contrasting strategies against the backdrop of a failed peace process, with experts anticipating a polarized runoff between them while acknowledging Valencia's struggle to gain traction. Despite their divergent platforms, all three candidates remain viable, presenting a fractured political landscape where voters must choose between a socialist-style economic expansion, a punitive security crackdown, or a traditional focus on institutional decency.
- Goldman Sachs8 min
Can the Tech Surge Continue?
Goldman Sachs reports a near-historic tech rally driven by an 80% year-to-year surge in semiconductors and robust earnings revisions that support current valuations. The firm projects 2027 capital expenditures to exceed $900 billion as infrastructure orders extend through 2027, while the software sector undergoes a selective re-rating based on demonstrated AI revenue growth. Despite concerns that the market has advanced too rapidly, analysts maintain a constructive medium-term outlook anchored by fundamental financial improvements rather than interest rate dynamics.
- The Economist7 min
A former CIA director on whether Russians are losing faith in Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin, Bill Burns, Shashank Joshi
CIA Director William Burns anticipated Russia's 2021 invasion based on intelligence revealing Vladimir Putin's belief that Ukraine was a domestic Russian issue and that Western allies were distracted, a miscalculation that has now led to a strategic inflection point. Following four years of conflict characterized by Russian casualties exceeding recruitment and severe damage to its energy sector, internal Moscow pressure is mounting despite Putin's tight repression and a temporary economic lifeline from energy exports to Iran. Current assessments indicate that any potential negotiation will likely require sustained battlefield support for Ukraine combined with severe economic pressure, even as the war's duration has depleted critical U.S. interceptor inventory needed by Kyiv.
- Goldman Sachs11 min
Why Rates Could Keep Rising
Phillip Lee, Chris Hussey, Phil Lee
Rising real yields are driven by a convergence of inflation uncertainty, resilient growth, and elevated fiscal deficits, causing market expectations to shift from anticipated rate cuts to a prolonged pause or potential hikes. The Federal Reserve's upcoming June guidance from its new Chairman underscores this uncertainty, while higher mortgage rates are stifling the housing market and eroding consumer spending power. Institutional investors are consequently adopting a bear-steepener strategy, maintaining dynamic patience in fixed income portfolios to navigate the divergence between robust equity performance and weakening underlying consumption.
- Goldman Sachs16 min
Caitlin Clark on Navigating Pressure and the Future of the WNBA
Following her NCAA all-time scoring record and selection as the number one WNBA draft pick by the Indiana Fever, Caitlin Clark overcame significant injury hurdles to secure Rookie of the Year honors and guide the franchise to its first Finals appearance since 2016. Clark's professional development has been shaped by strict parental guidance and a transition to elite competition that prioritizes defensive fundamentals and team chemistry over individual stardom. Looking ahead, she advocates for organic growth in the league, projects WNBA expansion to 18 teams by 2028, and aims to serve as an authentic role model while preparing for future international competition.
- The Economist7 min
Creating deadly human viruses will get easier with AI | The Economist
Arthur Holland Michael, Rosie Blau
Advances in artificial intelligence are rapidly lowering the barrier for non-state actors to engineer biological weapons by providing expert-level troubleshooting and access to global scientific literature. While current technology cannot yet generate novel pathogens without existing data sets, it effectively enables skilled individuals to modify existing viruses, thereby eliminating the traditional bottleneck of expert collaboration. Policymakers and developers are currently striving to implement robust refusal mechanisms and pre-release regulatory assessments to counter these evolving threats before malicious actors can exploit model vulnerabilities.
- Bank of America18 min
Asia’s defense awakening: Higher domestic spend, more exports
TJ Thornton, Chris Oberoi, KJ Huang, Ron Epstein
Asia's defense sector is pivoting from a primary importer to a manufacturing exporter, with regional spending reaching $573 billion in 2025 as nations like South Korea and Japan expand domestic production capacity. South Korea has emerged as a key beneficiary of this shift, driving a 24% export surge and diversifying sales to Europe and the Middle East while navigating potential collaboration with the United States on naval construction and supply chains. Analysts project that strong order backlogs and geopolitical instability will sustain earnings growth for Asian defense contractors through 2030, despite ongoing U.S. restrictions on direct munitions purchases.
- Bank of America19 min
Conflict keeps midstream compelling, integrateds see a pipeline of cash
U.S. energy producers are prioritizing capital discipline and shareholder returns over expansion, while a B of A outlook projects long-term oil prices stabilizing between $70 and $71 supported by strategic reserve restocking and potential Iranian production increases. Disruptions to Qatar's LNG capacity and delays in new projects are shifting global supply toward equilibrium, driving a 50% EBITDA surge for U.S. LNG exporters by next year. Simultaneously, rising electricity demand from data centers and AI is accelerating natural gas pipeline construction, creating a divergence where midstream firms anticipate low double-digit earnings growth despite a neutral third-person tone ensuring objective delivery of these market shifts.
- Bank of America6 min
Must Read Research: World Cup, Higher Oil Prices, and Mega IPOs
Scheduled for June 2026, the FIFA World Cup serves as a global infrastructure stress test projected to add $41 billion to GDP and generate two exabytes of data through the integration of AI and physical robotics. Concurrently, the energy sector faces a supply rebalancing driven by strategic reserve rebuilding and new output from the UAE, Canada, and the U.S., though analysts warn that sustained stock re-rating requires oil prices to exceed the historical norm of $70. Simultaneously, equity markets anticipate a $2 trillion issuance deluge from major private firms that may force passive funds to reallocate capital from mega-cap tech holdings to absorb the new supply.
- Bank of America9 min
Must Read Research: Weather & Commodity Risks; Fed Hikes; EU Trade Dynamics and Evolving Consumers
Candace Browning, Mark Cabana, Horst Schneider, Lorraine Hutchinson
A 2026 market analysis highlights severe El Niño-driven disruptions to global grain and sugar supplies alongside tightening U.S. corn balances that could push prices above $6 per bushel. Concurrently, resilient payroll growth and accelerating inflation suggest the Federal Reserve must raise rates to approximately 4% by year-end, a move likely underpriced by current market expectations. In global trade, Chinese automakers doubled their European market share to 8% in Q1 2026 while second-hand apparel spending surged 38%, reflecting shifting consumer dynamics and intensified geopolitical trade flows.
- a16z11 min
How Founders Can Build for Law Enforcement and First Responders | The a16z Show
David Ulevitch, Col. Jeffrey Glover, Rahul Sidhu, Colonel Glover
Law enforcement agencies are rapidly transitioning from traditional physical confrontation to AI-driven investigative frameworks that utilize autonomous drones, sensor fusion, and behavioral analytics to prevent crime and optimize resource allocation. This shift is evident in successful interventions where technology de-escalated potential threats and in the adoption of data-driven well-being programs that have reversed historical union resistance to body-worn cameras. Looking ahead, international intelligence sharing and advanced fraud detection are becoming central to a new policing model that prioritizes technical analysis over brute force, requiring developers to deeply understand operational contexts to effectively deploy these inevitable advancements.
- Jane Street16 min
Dwarkesh Goes Inside Jane Street's Latest AI Data Center
Dwarkesh, Ron Minsky, Daniel Pontecorvo, Mark Mirchandani
Jane Street transformed a Texas data center into a high-density liquid-cooled facility housing 4,032 GPUs to execute large language model training and custom trading architectures. The retrofit replaces legacy air-cooling with an 18°C fluid distribution system that manages 140 kW per cabinet while utilizing proprietary software to dynamically redistribute power and prevent breaker trips during peak loads. Engineering safeguards now focus on mitigating new liquid-cooling risks like biological growth and leaks, enabling sub-100-nanosecond latency required for modern algorithmic trading compared to the millisecond scales of its historical "Hive" cluster.
- The Economist8 min
Why gold, bonds and the dollar are underwhelming investors | The Economist
Global equity markets are maintaining all-time highs despite a historic oil supply shock from the Iran conflict, as investors prioritize optimism about AI-driven growth over immediate energy disruptions. Traditional safe-haven assets like gold, the US dollar, and government bonds have lost their protective appeal due to inflation concerns and a lack of differentiation, leaving stocks as the only viable alternative. This convergence has created a market dynamic where gains are driven by a scarcity of alternatives rather than fundamental profit expectations, raising significant concerns about a potential bubble and subsequent crash.
- Goldman Sachs11 min
A Tale of Two Markets
Shawn Tuteja, Chris Hussey, Sean Tatasia
As of May 13, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have rallied significantly driven by a 17% year-over-year earnings growth surge and concentrated capital expenditure of $755 billion in the AI sector. This performance has created a divergence where hyperscalers and semiconductor equipment outpace cyclical equities amid inflation shocks that have shifted Federal Reserve expectations from rate cuts to potential hikes. While Goldman Sachs rules out a bubble due to earnings-backed fundamentals, the market faces heightened volatility risks from systemic leverage and potential macro triggers like 30-year Treasury yields breaching 5%.
- The Economist10 min
What can Donald Trump get from Xi Jinping? | The Economist
Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, Jeremy Page, John Prideaux, James Bennet
Donald Trump's administration faces a complex landscape in US-China relations where both nations share AI safety concerns regarding nuclear weapons and cyber fraud despite deep trust deficits and divergent strategic priorities. Simultaneously, geopolitical tensions over Taiwan persist as President Xi Jinping demands extreme caution regarding arms sales following record-breaking approvals, while direct negotiations between the two leaders challenge previous diplomatic assurances. Economic negotiations may pivot toward establishing a Trade Board to resolve export overcapacity, with Beijing likely to authorize purchases of American soybeans and beef only in exchange for tangible reductions in US trade restrictions.