Mike Dolan

THE WRITER IS A COLUMNIST FOR REUTERS

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was part of talks between senior US officials and major AI firms about the American government possibly buying shares in the businesses.

With Trump mulling stakes in big AI firms, will the tech become a public utility?

Humanoid robotics may lift economy-wide productivity more than other AI forecasts suggest – but it will also affect more jobs.
THE BOTTOM LINE

Bond yields may be finally baking in an AI world

Kevin Warsh defined price stability – one of the central bank’s two congressional mandates – as a rate of price change “no one is talking about”.
THE BOTTOM LINE

Warsh’s impossible mission – tame inflation and please Trump

The big concern for Washington about sowing seeds of a US dollar devaluation is what that may mean for the stability of gigantic net foreign ownership of US assets.

Be careful what you wish for on a weaker US dollar

There is a tendency – but a slowing one – to lean on an AI-led capex spending as a reason for optimism about 2026.
THE BOTTOM LINE

Market calls for 2026 already laced with ‘Buy, but...’

There is no sign that we should expect a major twist in the labour picture when official jobs data is finally released.
THE BOTTOM LINE

Case for Fed pause mounts

In an extraordinary intervention, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent publicly prodded the Bank of Japan to keep raising interest rates.

Bessent shows US will baulk at any dollar rebound

Prices are about 20 per cent higher on average for the American household than before the pandemic.

US cementing higher inflation regime

Overall GDP growth and broad stock indexes are being flattered by the torrent of investment into AI and its infrastructure – overshadowing what's really going on Main Street, says the US' NFIB.
THE BOTTOM LINE

The ‘phoney trade war’ may be ending

BlackRock’s credit team insists some of the jolts in credit are “idiosyncratic”, and that the peak in recent default activity is likely behind us; it remains positive on corporate credit as interest rates fall and growth continues.

‘Juiced out’ bonds pushing money elsewhere?