[NEW INSIGHT] Why multimedia is becoming a CEOs most powerful thought leadership tool in 2026
If I had one phrase to characterise H1 2025, it would be topsy-turvy. According to a fairly obscure post I saw on my Instagram, we are (apparently) only just 11% of the way through Trump 2.0 – and unsurprisingly, I’m braced for more twists and turns to come.
The headline news over the last two weeks, really, has been Trump’s token “big, beautiful bill”.
Following a narrow Senate vote – a “level-headed” JD Vance cast the deciding call – and a similarly uneasy second pass through the House, the US President’s make-or-break raft of tax cuts is now finally law.
That is, a law that adds $3.3 trillion to the already burgeoning US budget deficit.
Whatever fiscal stimulus the bill brings – and whatever limitations it might place on US economic performance in the long term – it won’t undo the USD’s beating over the last six months.
H1 marked the US dollar’s worst half in over 50 years, reaching a three-year low and, in the process, falling sharply against its G10 peers.
Still, it’s not all doom and gloom. When there are lows, there are indeed highs – and just recently, the S&P and Nasdaq reached (another) record high following doubt-crushing US labour statistics.
147,000 jobs were added in June, defying all the ‘cooling’ concerns from Trump’s trade war.
That being said, I’d hold my breath on the optimism. The President’s tariff reprieve is ticking down, and you can be sure the deal haggling won’t be quick and painless, even despite US officials reportedly seeking narrower agreements by the July 9 deadline.
If the views around Asian equities are anything to go by, cautious ambivalence is required. The markets are awaiting Trump’s trigger-friendly tariffs with nail-biting anticipation.
And yet, all this ‘topsy-turviness’ has lit a fire in the belly of the EU. One of the headline pieces we chatted about as a team last month (over lunch, coffee, or live markets data) was Christine Lagarde’s rallying piece in the FT.
As news continues to emerge of de-dollarisation, Lagarde’s calls for a “global euro moment” certainly aren’t misplaced.
The euro is nudging a pivotal $1.20, showing it can muscle up to the fearsome dollar in this rapidly changing FX landscape.
Candidly, I just wish the UK had the same gumption. I’ve bleated on about this topic for too long now – you can read my pieces in Reaction and CapX, if you’re interested – but Wise’s decision to ditch London for the US and Cobalt Holdings’ move to abandon a London IPO altogether should be a glaring wake-up call to our global competitiveness.
The EU is being opportunistic. Why aren’t we?