Globalization
The dollar’s grip on global finance remains formidable, but the foundations are slowly shifting. Our new Dollar Dominance Indicator cuts through the noise, showing why USD usage stays sticky even as reserve demand erodes, and what this long transition means for FX and alternative reserve assets.
In our Beta report, we focus on our decade view. Many of our global allocator clients are scrambling to incorporate geopolitics into their strategic asset allocation. For most, this means thinking about war… or about future end-states. This is a mistake. We consider the next five years (maybe a decade) as the transition to the new era, a transition away from American unipolarity. And the transition itself is investment relevant. A transition to a multipolar world – which we think is occurring – will crush the USD and favor non-US assets. A transition to a bipolar world – not our base case, but still possible – would do the opposite.
Erdogan's rule continues to decline. Social unrest will persist, governance will erode, and the macro backdrop will deteriorate further. We recommend underweighting Turkish assets.
The world is focused entirely on the trade war between the US and… well everyone. This is fair given that there has been no greater market catalyst than Liberation Day since the pandemic. However, we continue to stress that the BIG PICTURE for macro investors is the rotation out of the US. A rotation that started well before April 2, despite the understanding of the investment community that some tariff action would be afoot.
In this Special Report, we share our “thoughts from the field,” gathered during a week of panels and conversations at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Our main takeaways include China’s rising global presence (despite its deceptive absence at the forum), the rising consensus on AI investment as the new corporate best practice, mounting stakes in the AI race, and the global shift toward MAGA-branded ideology as President Trump enters his second term. We also reflect on the surprising lack of geopolitical focus in the discussions and the forum’s broader role in the global geopolitical landscape.