Meetings are a waste of money
I think I don’t have to belabour the point that many (most?
Finance
Klement on Investing.
Thoughts on financial markets by Joachim Klement.
Recent essays
30 of 134The start-up challenge in Europe: Part Deux
On Tuesday, I wrote about a study by the OECD that compared start-up financing in the EU and the US.
Treasuries lose their haven status
In March, I wrote a post titled ‘Trust the dollar, not the Treasury’ where I argued that investors are increasingly losing trust in the US Treasury and the paper it issues, but retain faith in the US dollar.
The start-up challenge in Europe
The start-up scene in the US is the envy of bankers and investors across Europe and the UK.
DEI is dead…
…at least in the corporate world, it seems.
The economic divide in Italy
Italy as a country has a steep gradient in economic prosperity.
China is decoupling from the West
Ever since the trade war between the US and China started in 2018, the mantra of Western businesses has been to decouple from China and reduce their dependency on Chinese goods.
Europeans really don’t like to invest in stocks
It has become a trope to say that there is no equity investment culture in continental Europe (at least nowhere near what we see in the Anglo-Saxon world).
On AI and Iran, Trump risks bombing himself in the foot
OK, oil prices are dropping rapidly, but do you really believe that the US will not bomb Iran after the midterms?
It’s not you, it’s your AI
There have been a series of papers published recently that showed that large language models have their own biases when making investment recommendations.
Women are their own enemies
One of the things I observe with many women I work with is that they tend to be more reluctant to self-promote.
Demographics is not destiny – election edition
Next week Tuesday, Americans will go to the polls to determine who controls Congress for the next two years.
The one-eyed among the blind
Long-term bond yields have increased substantially since 2025 and there is increasing concern that these rising long-term bond yields may reflect fears about the solvency of countries like the US, Japan and others.
Gold reserves and exchange rate management
Gold bugs sometimes claim that central banks should own more gold as part of their reserve holdings.
The decline of German manufacturing
The second China shock is top of the agenda among European manufacturing businesses and in political circles.
Nice earnings forecasts you have. Shame if something happened to them
Greetings from Asia where I currently am on a business trip.
Building DACCS the right way
Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS), the technology to remove CO2 from the air and store it underground, is a controversial technology, mostly because it is unclear if it ever works at reasonable cost and scale.
The civil service may save us all
I am not a fan of civil servants, but in the current political climate, they may end up as our saving grace.
Europe’s fragmentation impacts research
Europe is famously fragmented.
Career risk trumps investment risk
As someone who has worked most of his career on the buy side, I know that career risk is real and overrides many investment considerations.
How much growth do higher taxes cost?
In a week, we will get a new budget here in the UK, and of course, everybody is wondering which taxes are going to be hiked and by how much.
Data centres boost the energy transition
The data centre boom has triggered an acceleration in the buildout of new power plants.
Worse than Schadenfreude
By now, the world is familiar with the German word ‘Schadenfreude’, the joy at the misfortune of others.
The impact of bubbles on lifetime earnings
If you recently switched careers to join the booming marketplace for AI jobs and profit from the higher salaries or greater upside on offer there, I have bad news for you.
AI cannot pick stocks
Yesterday, I wrote a bit about the hopes for productivity gains from AI.
From AI productivity to lower debt?
Sometimes, you come across a brief note that basically says all there is to say about a topic.
The impact of emissions trading schemes on trade
In 2026, the EU is rolling out its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
Trade means wealth: Antiquity edition
Regular readers will know that I am a passionate free trader.
Government debt changes the impact of monetary policy
To fight inflation, the ECB and other central banks hiked interest rates.
Can AI labs ever turn a profit?
Anthropic is about to IPO and I collect a lot of different data points in my latest Reuters column to asses if they can ever become profitable.