ING THINK aloud
Episodes
Stablecoins: From 'Wild West' to Mainstream
26 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine a world where money moves instantly - across borders, systems and time zones, 24 hours a day.For many, that future rests on stablecoins: digit...
Deals, deployment and digital-free childhoods - Telecoms in 2026
23 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast, ING’s Jan Frederik Slijkerman discusses the key trends that are set to define the European telecoms sector in 2026
Pharma 2026: Higher prices, manufacturing migration, China's ascent
22 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Are Trump’s pharmaceutical policies a seismic revolution, or just hot air? Will he succeed in lowering drug prices in 2026? Will manufacturing shift...
The data centre power play - AI, energy and Europe's next move
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast, ING's Diederik Stadig, Gerben Hieminga and Coco Zhang discuss the role of data centres in driving global economic growth, strateg...
Firings, the Fed's future, and the fallout for policy and markets
02 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast, ING's James Knightley and Padhraic Garvey discuss President Trump's efforts to steer monetary policy - and the economic narra...
Pharma's bitter dose of tariff pressure
05 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Trump administration has imposed a 15% tariff on EU pharmaceuticals and threatened even steeper levies elsewhere. At the same time, however, the g...
How far can the dollar fall?
18 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The US dollar's historic plunge has sent ripples across global currency markets. As its dominance falters, investors everywhere are asking, how fa...
Tariff gambit shifts to August. Then what?
10 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Donald Trump this week delayed the planned 9 July tariff hikes on US imports, notifying 22 countries that rates could rise as much as 50% ...
Iran-Israel ceasefire holds but risks remain
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A US-brokered ceasefire between Iran and Israel sent oil prices tumbling this week, as traders and investors bet that the bombing campaigns are over a...
The Trump Effect: A global economy gripped by uncertainty
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump's unpredictable trade policy has undermined confidence and deepened uncertainty across the global economy this year. In this podca...
China's playbook for US trade talks
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Officials from China and the US will meet in Switzerland this week to de-escalate a trade war that has disrupted global supply chains, deepened econom...
Corporate bonds caught in tariff turmoil
15 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement on April 2nd, a 90-day pause for most countries yet with escalating tariffs on China, exemptions on t...
What Trump's tariffs mean for Central and Eastern Europe
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
US-EU tariffs are a threat to the export-driven economies of Central and Eastern Europe.But ING economists argue that the region has ways to manage th...
Why a Mar-a-Lago Accord to weaken the dollar could be an act of self-harm
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The root cause of America's economic imbalances can be traced to a single factor: the strength of the US dollar. At least, that’s the view of St...
Europe's road to rearmament
13 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump’s decision to temporarily suspend military support for Ukraine, coupled with his implicit threat to withdraw US forces from Europe u...
Commodities Outlook 2025: How Trump's policies, Russian sanctions, and China's economic slowdown will shape the market
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast, ING commodities analysts Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey share their views on the outlook for energy, metals, and agriculture in the...
Economic Outlook 2025: Trump, Trade Wars, and Tense Politics
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A new US president, trade war threats, political instability in Europe, and mounting fiscal concerns obscure the outlook for the global economy in 202...
Make Aluminium Green Again
25 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Aluminium is an essential metal in our daily lives. It also plays a crucial role in the energy transition, and demand is soaring. But producing alumin...
FX Outlook 2025: How Trump's policies will ripple through global finance
15 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
ING FX strategists Chris Turner, Francesco Pesole, and Frantisek Taborsky discuss how Donald Trump's policies will reshape global currency markets in ...
ING's Credit Outlook for 2025
08 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Credit markets reacted positively to the outcome of the US election, with spreads - the difference between yields on corporate bonds relative to those...
Central and Eastern Europe's quest for core EU convergence
18 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The countries of Central and Eastern Europe have successfully avoided the middle-income trap and evolved into high-income economies. The next challeng...
Recession risks and the race for rate cuts
09 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Inflation is down and unemployment is rising. Have global central banks left it too late to start cutting interest rates? ING's economists and ana...
Navigating a CEE of opportunities - and challenges
01 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The economies of Central and Eastern Europe are largely in recovery mode. Slowing inflation and rising real wages have boosted consumer spending, ...
Why central bank divergence can only go so far
06 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The European Central Bank is widely expected to cut interest rates on Thursday from a record high of 4%. It’s an unusual move for two reasons: There...
China's great economic transition
02 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
China is a country in transition. After decades of rapid growth at any cost, the economic model is shifting to one centred on high quality, sustainabl...
Central banks and the road to rate cuts
13 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s THINK aloud, we bring you the highlights of our Economics Live webinar, where we discussed the outlook for the global economy, mon...
How AI can speed up the energy transition
07 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
2023 was the hottest year on record. The Copernicus Climate Change Service says temperatures last year likely exceeded “those of any period in at l...
FX Outlook 2024: The dollar's long goodbye
21 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Recent months have seen the US dollar on a powerful bull run. Propelled by strong economic growth and a hawkish Federal Reserve, which has signalled t...
Why oil prices will stay high and add to stagflation risk
06 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The price of oil surged more than 30% in the third quarter, driven by solid global demand, supply cuts from OPEC+ and additional voluntary cuts from S...
Central banks and the rate cut countdown
19 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As interest rates in the US, UK and Europe approach a peak, and economic growth shows further signs of faltering, the focus has firmly shifted to rate...
China is no 1990s Japan - but it could have been
03 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As the Western world struggles to tame high inflation, fears of persistent deflation are taking root in China. Prices at the factory gate have been d...
Shocking challenges: Electric vehicles face roadblocks ahead
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Global temperatures have shattered records this month, heightening the urgency to reduce carbon emissions. But the energy transition and the shift to ...
There may be trouble ahead... for the UK
30 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast, a replay of an ING event this week, Developed Markets Economist James Smith and Senior Editor Rebecca Byrne discuss the outlook for U...
Central banks, inflation and why the battle isn't over
13 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In a live webinar event this week, ING's James Knightley, Carsten Brzeski and James Smith discussed the outlook for inflation, economic growth and...
What the US debt ceiling drama means for the dollar
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As talks to raise the US debt ceiling go down to the wire, and the threat of a default looms large, currency markets have remained remarkably composed...
Hiking into a banking crisis
05 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As two more regional US lenders - PacWest and Western Alliance - saw their share prices collapse this week, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates ...
Emerging markets: Resilience amid uncertainty
19 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With soaring public debt since the Covid pandemic and much higher debt servicing costs after aggressive rate hikes around the world, emerging markets ...
Constructive on credit
31 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast, ING's Global Head of Sector Research Jeroen van den Broek and Credit Strategist Tim Rahill discuss how the recent turmoil in the ...
Price stability vs financial stability
23 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast, ING's Padhraic Garvey and Antoine Bouvet discuss the latest central bank decisions to raise interest rates despite recent turmoil...
Higher for longer
10 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast, ING's James Knightley, Carsten Brzeski, and James Smith discuss where interest rates may be heading in the US, Europe and UK while Ch...
Ukraine war, one year on
24 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One year after Russia’s devastating invasion of Ukraine, Europe is still learning to adapt to the new economic reality. In this podcast, ING’s War...
Are we there yet?
03 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast, ING's James Knightley, Carsten Brzeski and James Smith discuss whether interest rates in the US and Europe are close to a peak, what ...
What to expect from commodity markets in 2023
07 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Global commodity markets have swung wildly this year, and the volatility may be set to continue into 2023. While Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent pri...
COP27: A climate cop out?
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The COP27 climate summit in Egypt was supposed to be the moment when governments turned lofty aspirations into real world action, implementing the cli...
Listen: Rate hikes, recession, rate cuts
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
After four 75bp rate hikes, the US Federal Reserve has signalled a slower pace of tightening ahead. But Chair Jerome Powell also warned that it is "ve...
Quid Game: UK markets live to fight another day
29 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast, ING's Chris Turner, James Smith and Antoine Bouvet discuss the UK government's fiscal policy, why it's sent markets into a tailspin a...
Inflation, intervention and interest rates
15 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's THINK aloud, ING's Chris Turner, Developed Markets Economist James Smith and Senior Rates Strategist Antoine Bouvet discuss the latest ...
ECB rate hikes won't change euro's trajectory
09 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The European Central Bank cited the weak euro as one reason to raise interest rates by 75bp on Thursday - the most on record. But tighter monetary pol...
Exceptional uncertainty
04 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Bank of England raised interest rates by 50bp on Thursday, the most in a quarter century, as inflation sits at a 40-year high. And despite forecas...
'Game changing' SEC climate rules at risk
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure rules were controversial from the start. But a recent ruling by the US Supreme Court has c...
ECB: One more and done
22 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The European Central Bank raised interest rates for the first time in more than a decade this week and left the door open for further hikes in a bid t...
Can the Fed avoid a crash landing?
06 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says the battle to contain inflation without triggering a recession will be "very challenging". In this podcast...
Britain's cost of living crisis
23 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The war in Ukraine will exacerbate the UK's cost of living crisis this year, with real disposable incomes set to drop by the most on record. In this p...
How the Russia-Ukraine crisis will reshape commodity markets
16 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Global commodity markets have been swinging wildly since Russia invaded Ukraine, with everything from oil to wheat caught up in the crisis. In this po...
The economic price of the war in Europe
04 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Putin's invasion of Ukraine has dampened expectations for economic growth in Europe and raised forecasts for inflation, making life more difficult for...
What the Russia-Ukraine crisis means for global FX markets
25 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast, ING's Chris Turner and Senior Editor Rebecca Byrne reflect on a historic week that has shaken confidence and rocked financial markets...
Putting a price on carbon
26 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Carbon markets have been hailed as a solution to climate change. But how do they work? Will they be effective in bringing emissions down to levels tha...
Bond yields: No time to die
17 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Federal Reserve is optimistic about US growth prospects next year, with policymakers now calling for three interest rate hikes in 2022. But the US...
Why Omicron is no game changer for Europe's growth outlook
09 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Omicron variant will hit economic growth in Europe over the coming months, but won't derail the recovery next year, according to ING's Carsten Brz...
COP26: 'Pitifully inadequate' or 'truly historic'?
16 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's fair to say the COP26 climate agreement in Glasgow has received a mixed response. While UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the deal as "truly...
A time to taper
04 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
To everything there is a season. And for the US Federal Reserve, this is a time to taper. But how significant is the move, when will interest rates ri...
The UK's twin tightening gamble
28 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Chancellor Rishi Sunak says the UK economy is recovering faster than its major competitors and public finances are stabilising. Economic growth for th...
What the Fed taper means for global FX markets
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Financial markets have brushed off the Federal Reserve's hawkish shift, as well as a liquidity crisis at Chinese property developer, Evergrande. In th...
What Europe's inflation angst means for bonds
16 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Inflation risks are rising in Europe. But will the region's bond markets take note? European Central Bank member Isabel Schnabel said in a speech this...
The cost and credibility of Asia's climate goals
10 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Asia emits half the world's carbon dioxide. But ahead of the COP26 climate change talks in November, only a handful of Asian countries have ...
What China's sweeping socialist reforms mean for the economy
02 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
China cracked down on the online gaming industry this week, the latest in a series of policies aimed at strengthening the public sector and reining in...
What France's health pass really means for the economy
06 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
France's Covid health pass will be extended next week to a wider range of public venues including cafes and restaurants, as the government doubles dow...
Pains, Chains and Automobiles
28 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The global car industry was forced to slam on the brakes this year, as a shortage of semiconductors hit production just as demand was starting to pick...
Alarm bells ring for emerging markets
16 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Emerging markets have been resilient this year despite the Federal Reserve's hawkish shift in June and fresh lockdowns in some countries that threaten...
OPEC vs OPEC: How the oil drama may unfold
09 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
OPEC+ called off its meeting this week without an agreement to increase oil supplies, sending Brent to a three-year high and WTI to levels not seen si...
A "dangerous moment" for the Bank of England?
25 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Bank of England's outgoing chief economist Andy Haldane has sounded the alarm on inflation repeatedly this year and was the only MPC member to vot...
What the Fed's hawkish shift means for bonds
17 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A hawkish Federal Reserve meeting has prompted investors to reassess the outlook for asset purchases and the timing of interest rate hikes. In this po...
ECB avoids taper talk but for how long?
10 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The European Central Bank said it is still too early to discuss reducing monetary stimulus, even as it raised its growth and inflation forecasts for t...
Why the Fed may be wrong about inflation
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
US inflation is rising at the fastest pace in more than a decade. Should we be worried? In this podcast, ING's James Knightley discusses whether recen...
A busy year for high yield
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our High Yield trading, strategy and syndicate teams take over this week's podcast for an informal conversation around year-to-date primary debt marke...
The long and winding road to rate hikes
20 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hawks are growing louder at the US Federal Reserve. But with interest rate hikes still likely to be years away, the dollar is taking recent taper talk...
Tense times in world trade
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
US-China relations have worsened under the Biden Administration, with both sides openly trading barbs and Trump-era trade tariffs remaining firmly in ...
The economic impact of India's devastating second wave
29 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
India is in the grip of a particularly cruel second wave that is overwhelming hospitals and testing the endurance of a nation. In this podcast, ING's ...
Why copper is the new black gold
23 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ambitious new targets for cutting carbon emissions and bold spending plans have fuelled optimism about the green revolution and helped to power a rall...
Covid's East-West divide
15 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In Asia, second and third waves of the coronavirus are raging in some countries, with India reporting more than 100,000 new cases a day over the past ...
Inequality threatens European cohesion
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Far from being the 'Great Equaliser,' Covid-19 has magnified socio-economic differences across Europe, exposing fault lines both between and within co...
Europe's third wave woes
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The European Commission is calling for tougher controls on vaccine exports, as the bloc struggles with a third wave of the virus and criticism over it...
Money for Nothing
18 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
President Joe Biden says his $1.9 trillion pandemic rescue plan, for the first time, prioritises working- and middle-class Americans. But US ...
ECB steps up stimulus but is it enough?
11 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The European Central Bank is stepping up the pace of asset purchases in response to rising bonds yields, which have threatened to undermine the eurozo...
Dear Prudence
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak is going where few finance ministers have gone before in the Covid-19 pandemic, announcing future tax hikes to pay for relie...
Gauging the ‘taper tantrum’ fallout
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell sent a message to nervous bond markets this week: calm down. But are traders and investors listening?...
The rise and fall of voluntary social distancing
18 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In economic terms, the second wave of the pandemic in Europe has been less severe than the first. Official lockdowns have been less harsh and more tar...
Inflation Blues
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It gave B.B. King the blues. And Larry Summers is getting worried about it, too. Inflation in the US is set to rise in the coming ...
Emerging markets' vaccine challenge
04 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The World Health Organization says vaccine hoarding would be a catastrophic moral failure that would keep the pandemic burning and result in a very sl...
Risky business: Credit markets are 'very expensive'
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said this week that the Bank is monitoring the corporate bond market, where spreads have narrowed to level...
'21 is going to be a good year (for commodities)
18 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Optimism surrounding the Covid vaccine coupled with a crude oil production cut from Saudi Arabia have lifted the price of Brent by about 7% since the ...
Hope springs eternal
07 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With a new variant of Covid-19 spreading rapidly across the UK, schools, non-essential retail, pubs and restaurants have been forced to shut ...
Betting on a Brexit deal
15 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
With just two weeks to go before the Brexit transition period comes to an end, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU Commission President Ursula...
Don't worry about the debt, yet
26 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has laid the groundwork for tackling Britain's unprecedented surge in borrowing, which is set to hit a peacetime record...
What a Biden economy might look like
12 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
President-elect Joe Biden says the Trump administration’s refusal to concede the election will not affect the transition of power. But could this la...
How the US presidential election could impact Europe
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump's 'America First' policy has been criticised by rival Joe Biden as an isolationist strategy that has left America alone in the world, ...
Europe's second wave sends recovery into reverse
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
New lockdown measures to stem the spread of the virus in Europe are threatening to plunge the region back into recession after a brief respite over th...
Riskier road ahead
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
With more Americans than ever voting by mail in the November election, and President Trump's warning that the final outcome may not be known for month...
What a Covid resurgence means for oil
24 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A recent increase in the number of Covid-19 cases and new lockdown measures to stem the spread of the virus have sparked concern that demand for oil c...
Emerging from Covid-19
17 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Covid-19 pandemic has ripped through the developing world this year with particular cruelty and ferocity, upending lives and livelihoods on a...