BM Talks

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It's happening! Bonds are selling off again! What's going on? Can politicians afford to go to party conferences when fiscal plans may be in tatters as soon as they're announced? Do you know your swap rate from your Bank Rate? What even is "The Bond Market"?

We have recorded a two-part podcast special on Bonds with market expert, and friend of the show, Ben Ashby, CIO of Henderson Rowe t...

We are joined once again by Rob Ford, Professor of Political Science at Manchester University and co-author of the definitive "The British General Election of 2019 (Bible of General Elections)" to discuss the Makerfield by-election. He is also the new Elections Analyst for Sky News and his Substack is The Swingometer.

We asked: 

• Who is likely to win the Makerfield by-election?
• Who are the Makerfield voters? 
• What is the p...

We are joined in our latest edition of BM Talks by Kallum Pickering. He is Chief Economist at Peel Hunt and a columnist for The Telegraph.

We asked: 

• What is the economic outlook given the Iran war?
• How do we monitor the air pockets that might show up when the rubber hits the road and the supply shortage manifests in the markets?
• What would a US/Iran deal look like? 
• Is the Chinese Yuan going to replace the US Dollar as th...

We are joined in our latest edition of BM Talks for a Q2 update from Ben Ashby, CIO of Henderson Rowe.

We asked: 

• How long will the energy shock last?
• How is the conflict in the Middle East part of the US National Security Plan?
• How does this compare to the Tanker Wars of the 1980s and the Oil Embargo of the 1970s?
• How will interest rate markets respond?
• Could we see a currency crisis and capital controls?
• What is happen...

We are joined in our latest edition of BM Talks by Rob Ford, Professor of Political Science at Manchester University and co-author of the definitive "The British General Election of 2019 (Bible of General Elections)".  

We asked him:

- Who is likely to win the Gorton & Denton by-election?

- What is the path to victory for the Greens, Labour and Reform respectively? 

- What would be a good result for Keir Starmer?

- What wo...

We are joined in our latest edition of BM Talks by Bill Dinning. He is Chief Investment Officer of W1M, the UK wealth and investment manager formed in 2024 through the merger of Waverton Investment Management and London and Capital Group. Bill was previously Head of Investment Strategy at Coal Pension Trustees and prior to that at Kames Capital in Edinburgh.

We asked: 

• Are marketd underestimating the inflationary im...

We are joined in our latest edition of BM Talks by Mike Bell. Mike is an independent macro strategist who spent a decade at JP Morgan Asset Management where he led international investment teams and advised institutional clients on the economic outlook across asset classes. He studied Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge University and is a CFA Charterholder.

We asked: 

• Why do you think the Bank of England will cut rat...

We are joined in our latest edition of BM Talks by Silvana Tenreyro. Silvana sat on the Bank of England's MPC from 2017 until 2023 and is a professor of Economics at the LSE. 

We asked: 

• What is the biggest lesson from her time on the MPC which covered the aftermath of the Brexit vote along with Covid and the war in Ukraine?
• Is central bank credibility at risk?
• Does the Bernanke Review of the Bank of England go far enough...

We are joined in our latest edition of BM Talks by Mark Mcvitie, Director of the Labour Growth Group. With around 100 Labour MPs as members, the group is 'committed to tearing down the barriers to growth'. Mark worked in communications in the financial services sector before moving into political campaigning. 

We asked: 

• What is the Labour Growth Group's core mission? 
• How does it work with other Labour factions?&nb...

We are joined in our latest edition of BM Talks by Dame Harriett Baldwin, MP for West Worcestershire who served as Chair of the Treasury Select Committee and is now Shadow Business and Trade Minister. Prior to joining parliament she was Head of Currency Management at JP Morgan Investment Management.

We asked: 

• How do you assess the UK's fiscal risks right now?
• Do the current fiscal rules command credibility in the markets?
• Do ...

We are joined in our latest edition of BM Talks by Alex Patelis, who served as Chief Economic Adviser to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis between 2019-2024. Alex also worked in investment banks including as Managing Director of Global Research at Merrill Lynch and studied under Ben Bernanke for his PhD from Princeton. 

We asked:

• Ten years ago, Greece voted No in a referendum to a bailout, only for the new Prime Minis...

We are joined in our latest edition of BM Talks by Rachel Ziemba, founder of Ziemba Insights. She is an expert in sanctions and trade policy with a focus on oil markets in the Middle East. Her substack has the ever-more relevant name of "Weaponized Economy".     

We asked: 

• What happens to the oil price given the Iran/Israel conflict?
• What will be the response of the GCC countries and China?
• How will Trump's tra...

We are joined in our latest edition of BM Talks by Dr Nigel Bowles, who taught American politics and history at Oxford and Edinburgh universities, along with authoring many books such as "Government and Politics of the United States".   

We asked: 

• Does the US Constitution prevent an authoritarian President?
• Can the US President remove the Federal Reserve Chair? 
• Are tariffs the exclusive power of the executive ...

This is an episode from our archives. 

We spoke to Kweku Adoboli, the former UBS trader who went to prison for rogue trading that was uncovered in 2011. In the summer of 2018, having served his time, he spoke to us about the mechanics of marketing making and prop trading in ETFs and other Delta One products. He explained how he used proxies for volatility to hedge positions and how this can lead to hidden leverage withi...