Markets Happy Hour Podcast - October 23, 2025 - Data Lakes and Data Deserts

In this week's Markets Happy Hour Podcast we are joined by Luba Nikulina, Head of Global Strategy for IFM Investors. She is responsible for leading the development of IFM’s global strategy with a focus on private markets solutions that meet the needs of Australian and global pension funds and their members. Luba has always thought in an orthogonal way, finding links between different factors in the economy and trying to apply a fresh perspective to common problems.

This podcast does not disappoint in this respect - we first focus on the complexity of the inflation problem - the role of food and oil prices, as well as expectations more broadly. We speak then about how investors are approaching this dilemma and preparing their portfolios for inflation resilience.

Moving to interest rates Luba refers to the high level of government debts and the destabilizing backdrop that this presents, and then we discuss the oft stated cockroach analogy this week - with Luba noting that the ethos and high standing of the commentators noting this issue (Jamie Dimon and the Governor of the Bank of England) only adds to its integrity as a potential real issue. The "data desert" in the title referred to the dearth of data in the private area, which makes knowing whether a problem is in fact endemic very difficult.

We don't forget the tariff turmoil either - noting that it has again dragged on markets this week, and in another spot of orthogonal thinking talk about the way that the arteries of global trade are clogged and what this might mean for risk factors. The challenge of estimating risk, particularly when it comes to geopolitics should not be overlooked either, we note, and overall relying on diversified portfolios with careful monitoring remains sound counsel for institutional investors.