A nice counter-trade
The latest gathering of the world’s political and business elite, plus the usual smattering of celebrities, is taking place this week at the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos. The annual meeting comes as geopolitics become heavily intertwined with the world economy, as well as the disruptive innovation that will need to be addressed by countries and corporations. Reflecting those dynamics, the latest theme of the World Economic Forum is “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age,” which describes the convergence of today’s transformative technologies.
Buzzwords: Artificial intelligence, or more specifically, “AI agents,” which can learn and take action by themselves, are being explored for their potential in industries like finance and healthcare. “Digital trust” is another biggie that is growing in importance in the era of chatbots and deepfakes. “Tariffs,” or the levies imposed on imported goods, are also coming up in many conversations due to growing global trends towards protectionism.
Over 50 heads of state and government are gathering at Davos 2025, though President Trump will be absent following his recent inauguration. Instead, he’ll address the World Economic Forum via video link today, in a closely watched address at 11 AM ET. It comes shortly after the unveiling of the $500B Stargate Project, an AI infrastructure partnership involving Oracle (ORCL), SoftBank (OTCPK:SFTBY) and OpenAI, that seeks to keep the U.S. at the forefront of AI innovation.
Highlights so far: “If [tariffs] are a little inflationary, but [they’re] good for national security, so be it. I mean, get over it,” said JPMorgan (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon. “National security trumps a little bit more inflation.” Bank of America’s (BAC) Brian Moynihan also confirmed that the U.S. banking system would accept cryptocurrency payments someday once there is regulatory approval, but investing in crypto like bitcoin (BTC-USD) is “really a separate question.” Pessimism about Europe was present in many conversations as well, prompting BlackRock’s (BLK) Larry Fink to call investment in the region a counter-trade. “Always go against Davos and you’ll make a lot of money,” he declared.
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