Odd Lots

Martin Wolf on Trump's Shakeup of the Global Order

21 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Martin Wolf has been called one of the world's most important economics commentators, and has for decades written in columns and his own books about t...

Here's Why Uncertainty Is An Economic Killer

20 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Here's Why is Bloomberg’s short explainer podcast, where we take one big news story and break it down in just a few minutes—with help from...

Why the Pentagon Fails Audits Year After Year After Year

19 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Last year, it was announced that the US Department of Defense had failed an audit for its seventh straight year, indicating an ongoing inability to tr...

Mitu Gulati on Whether Trump Could Restructure US Debt

18 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

US Treasuries are the most important market in the world. With some $29 trillion outstanding, they create the benchmark that informs basically every o...

Is This the End of the US Exceptionalism Trade?

17 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For years and years now, there has been one winning trade: Go long the US versus the rest of the world. Thanks to tech dynamism and general pro-growth...

Javier Blas on China's Rare Earths Dominance

15 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Every time there is tension between the US and China, there are stories about China threatening to withhold exports of rare earth metals, which are su...

What an American Stove Maker Wants You to Know About US Manufacturing

14 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of the ironies of the tariffs is that, while ostensibly the goal is to reshore US manufacturing, it's actually been US makers of physical goods th...

Introducing: Stock Movers

13 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Check out the new Stock Movers Podcast from Bloomberg. Subscribe for five-minute reports on today's winners and losers in the stock market. Liste...

Jim Chanos on Who's Getting Caught Swimming Naked

12 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In a big bull market, people will overlook a lot. They'll suspend their disbelief. They'll buy into fantastical, unrealistic stories about the future....

Lots More on Why Neil Dutta Is Sticking With His Recession Call

11 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On Wednesday, President Trump put a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for every country except China. The market, which had been in a state of deep p...

Rob Kaplan on How the Fed Will Think about the Tariffs

10 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On Wednesday, Trump pulled back from the brink on most of the reciprocal tariffs announced on April 2. The market surged. But we're still in an extrao...

Viktor Shvets on Trump's Historical, Revolutionary Moves

09 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How should we make sense of the Trump tariffs? They've been terrible for the stock market, obviously. Small businesses seem to hate them. Energy compa...

What Tariffs Are Doing to North American Freight

08 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Amidst Trump's dramatic tariff moves, trade in North America remains uncertain. The USMCA hasn't been completely ripped up, but the region is anxiousl...

What Trump's Tariffs Are Already Doing to World Trade

07 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It was just last Wednesday that President Trump announced his new tariff schedule with the rest of the world. And it's already having an effect. Compa...

Tether's CEO Speaks on His Insanely Profitable Business

07 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Anything crypto-related is frequently greeted with a high degree of skepticism. Within that, one of the most controversial companies for a long time h...

Brad Setser on the Damage From Trump's Gigantic Tariff Shock

05 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

He needs no introduction: When trade is in the news, we speak with Brad Setser of the Council on Foreign Relations. Brad has been talking for awhile a...

Lots More on a Massive, Historical, Stagflationary Shock

04 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On Wednesday, President Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs against almost every country in the world. The size and scope was far beyond what anyone was a...

Tim Geithner on How to Fight the Next Financial Crisis

03 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The 2008 financial crisis is fading into history, but the risks of something big happening again remain. In this episode, we speak with Tim Geithner, ...

The Growing Risk to Fed Independence That Wall St Isn't Watching

01 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Last month, Donald Trump fired the Federal Trade Commission's two Democratic commissioners. They have since filed suit, arguing that the law that crea...

Nick Denton's Big Bet Against the United States

31 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Legendary media mogul Nick Denton, the founder of Gawker, is done with the US. He’s leaving New York City for good, and moving with his family t...

The Last Time Investors Really Got Excited For Tech Infrastructure

28 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of the biggest questions hanging over the market right now is whether or not the seemingly unlimited appetite for more AI data center spending is ...

Why Brad Jacobs Is Spending $11 Billion on a Roofing Supply Business

27 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Brad Jacobs has made a fortune in his career buying and building big logistics companies, like United Rentals, Waste Management, XPO (trucking company...

Jim Millstein on the Massive Risks of Any 'Mar-a-Lago Accord'

24 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

President Trump wants higher tariffs, and he also wants more industrial production in the United States. This we know. In the meantime, a coterie of e...

Lots More With Charlie McElligott on the Sharp, Strange Selloff

21 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, the US market sold off sharply. The S&P 500 fell as much as 3.6% on Monday alone, entering technical correction territory. Momentum tra...

The Great Jones Act Debate

20 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We finally did it. We finally did an episode on the Jones Act. For years on the podcast, we've been referencing this controversial law from 1920, whic...

FTC Chief Andrew Ferguson on the Trump Vision for Antitrust

17 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When Donald Trump won in November, one of the things that Wall Street was excited about was an expected liberalization of merger rules. There was a po...

The Original Prediction Market Was Betting on the Pope

14 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Prediction markets are everywhere nowadays. You can go online and bet on political outcomes, or the weather, or how long Taylor Swift will stay togeth...

Is There an Extremely Simple Fix for Affordable Housing?

13 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Housing affordability remains one of the single greatest sources of economic stress. Even if inflation measures were to come down, the simple cost of ...

Cathie Wood on What Comes Next in AI and Big Tech

11 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Markets have been selling off, with shares of tech companies like Nvidia down almost 20% so far this year. But even before the recent selloff, DeepSee...

Here Comes the Booming Chinese Biotech Sector

10 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

You’ve heard about Chinese EVs. You’ve heard about Chinese batteries and solar panels. And recently you learned that China is near the cut...

Trump's NIH Cuts Send Shockwaves Through the Science World

08 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of the first moves made by the Trump administration was to change the nature of grants made by the National Institutes of Health. Under the new po...

We Just Saw Europe's Biggest Week in Decades

07 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week was a busy one and some of the most interesting things that happened came out of Europe, where policymakers announced up to €800 billio...

Eugene Fama and David Booth on the Birth of Modern Finance

06 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The 1970s were a pretty eventful time in markets. There was high inflation, the end of the gold standard, and a stock market crash. There was also a b...

Ray Dalio on the Coming Crisis in US Debt

03 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Almost whichever way you measure it, the US has a lot of debt. And, with the Trump administration recently proposing a budget that would see US debt l...

Lots More on the Growing Risks to the US Labor Market

28 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A week from today we will get the February jobs report and there are growing concerns that the US labor market is slowing. Already, the number of sect...

Goldman's Jared Cohen and George Lee on the Unprecedented Shocks in Geopolitics

27 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The first month of the Trump administration has been noisy and novel by basically any measure. But perhaps the biggest shockwaves have been in the rea...

Jim Bianco on What a 'Mar-a-Lago Accord' Could Mean for the Economy

25 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The so-called “Mar-a-Lago Accord” has suddenly become a hot topic on Wall Street, with some investors and analysts starting to take the id...

Here's What It Takes to Make a Great Company

24 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

People love listening to stories about making it big, and there are no shortage of success stories in the world of global business. There's TSMC, whic...

How Banks Turned Into Giant Synthetic Hedge Funds

21 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Hedge funds are notorious for making big and sometimes risky trades. Banks, meanwhile, are supposed to be a lot more boring by comparison — for ...

The Plan to Get America Building Big Ships Again

20 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The US is a dominant force in a number of important industries, but it's been lagging behind in one crucial area: shipbuilding. Today, there are about...

This Is How Derivatives Trading Swallowed the Entire Market

17 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For a long time, the world of derivatives trading was a niche thing, largely occupied by professional investors who used them for hedging purposes. Du...

This Is Why People Are So in Love With Gold

14 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The price of gold is basically at record highs. But what is it about gold that people love so much? Why have people always craved a metal that has no ...

How the Fed Distributes Billions of Dollars in Cash

13 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We all know that the Federal Reserve tries to stabilize the economy by raising or cutting interest rates to balance inflation and unemployment. But th...

This Is Why It's So Hard To Cut Public Spending

10 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Trump administration has come into office with big ambitions to lower the size of the US deficit. So far, a number of small items have been identi...

Philip Lane on the Big Problems Facing the Euro-zone Economy

07 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There's a pretty widespread recognition that the EU is facing a bunch of economic challenges right now. Growth has been slowing and, as in many places...

This Is Palantir's Vision for Changing How the US Does Defense Spending

06 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we saw shares of software maker Palantir soar after reporting earnings and describing demand for AI as being "untamed." But what does Palan...

The Treasury Payment System Elon Musk Now Has Access To

05 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have gained access to a unit within the Treasury Department called the Bureau of Fiscal S...

The Tariff Announcement That Shocked Financial Markets

03 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Over the weekend, President Trump announced that he was following through with his plan for aggressive tariffs. Imports from Canada and Mexico will no...

Marko Kolanovic Is Back With a Warning for Stocks

03 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Marko Kolanovic was one of the biggest names in markets, earning the nickname 'Gandalf' for some eerily prescient calls over the years. But last July ...

Lots More with Matt Levine on MicroStrategy's Infinite Money Machine

31 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone knows by now that MicroStrategy looks a lot like a giant Bitcoin ETF. Its founder, Michael Saylor, is a huge supporter of the cryptocurrency ...

Get Ready For Another Shock to Housing Affordability

30 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of the primary drivers of elevated inflation — and the high cost of living in general — is the price of shelter. Whether you're buying...

The AI Model That Tanked the Stock Market

28 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On Monday, the stock market tanked, seemingly in reaction to the emergence of DeepSeek, an open source AI model developed in China. Nvidia, the semico...

How Oaktree's Howard Marks Spots a Market Bubble

27 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The run-up in Big Tech stocks and all the hype over AI has put a bunch of investors on "bubble watch." One of those is Howard Marks, the co-founder an...

Why the Stock Market Might Be at Peak Concentration Risk

24 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There's a lot of talk right now about concentration risk in US equities. For instance, the top 10 stocks in the S&P 500 currently account for 38% ...

How Companies Are Actually Spending Money on AI Now

23 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In theory, all of this AI spending has to deliver some kind of return. Companies (or other end users) will have to get tangible value from its outputs...

Introducing: Trumponomics

22 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tariffs, crypto, deregulation, tax cuts, protectionism, are just some of the things back on the table when Donald Trump returns to the Presidency. To ...

This Is What the Crypto Industry Actually Wants From Trump

20 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We all know that the new Trump administration is likely to be more friendly to the crypto industry than the Biden administration was. And we know that...

Lots More with Lev Menand on the Eurodollar Market Now

17 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Odd Lots has been exploring the history of the eurodollar market in a special three-part series hosted by Columbia Law School's Lev Menand and the New...

The Hidden History of Eurodollars, Part 3: Spinning Out of Control

16 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this special three-part series, Odd Lots is exploring the history of the eurodollar market. By the 1970s, eurodollars are hitting the headlines &md...

The Hidden History of Eurodollars, Part 2: Defending the Dollar System

15 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this special three-part series, Odd Lots is exploring the history of the eurodollar market. As we enter the turbulent 1960s, the eurodollar market ...

The Hidden History of Eurodollars, Part 1: Cold War Origins

14 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

At more than $10 trillion outstanding, the eurodollar market is one of the biggest forms of shadow banking activity out there. It's also one of the mo...

Why Government Hiring Is So Inefficient

13 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Regardless of your political ideology, it's easy to agree that government should work well; that it should be able to hire talented officials, and bui...

Evolving Money: A Faster, Cheaper Way to Pay (Sponsored Content)

12 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1950s, a businessman, looking for a new way to settle his lunch tab, sparked a payments revolution and paved the way for today’s cashless...

Lots More on the Global Selloff in Government Bonds

10 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of the biggest stories in markets right now is the huge selloff in government bonds. And we're not just talking about the US here. The UK is seein...

This Is How Electricity Rates Are Actually Set

09 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Utilities in the US have a couple big jobs to do. On the one hand, they need to deliver affordable and reliable power to their customers. On the other...

What It Felt Like When Everyone Was Hopeful, Happy, and Rich

06 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you look at various surveys, Americans feel grim about the state of the economy. But even outside of the economy itself, you see negative readings ...

This Is How China Builds So Much Nuclear Power

03 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the US right now, there is a lot of talk about a so-called "nuclear revival." But it remains to be seen whether we'll see a meaningful uptick in ac...

The Odd Lots AMA Episode: Tracy and Joe Answer Listener Questions

02 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As is becoming something of an annual tradition here, we recently asked Odd Lots listeners to send in any questions they have about the show to Tracy ...

The 10 Most Interesting Things We Learned on Odd Lots in 2024

30 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As 2024 comes to an end, Tracy and Joe once again look back at the year that was in Odd Lots. On this final episode of the year, we revisit 10 of the ...

Odd Lots Talks Beak Capitalism on Money Stuff Talking Chicken

27 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Back in November, we released our series called Beak Capitalism, which took a look at the entire US economy through the lens of chicken. Then we went ...

Jennifer Granholm on What Will Survive of Biden's Energy Legacy

26 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Biden administration made energy and climate a centerpiece of its administration, most notably through the Inflation Reduction Act. At the same ti...

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly Explains the 'Hawkish Cut'

23 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, the Federal Reserve cut benchmark rates by 25 basis points, but simultaneously signaled a slower pace of cuts for next year. The guidance s...

Jim Caron on the Market Selloff and the Fed's Historic Adjustment

20 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points as expected. But it also raised its inflation outlook for 2025, and sees just ...

Nina Achadjian on What It Takes to Win in VC Right Now

19 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The world of startup investing has undergone massive transformations amid the AI boom, changing capital markets, and an intense degree of competition ...

This Stove Company Wants to Change How the World Uses Energy

16 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

One of the minor culture wars in America has to do with electric stoves. To some, they're more energy efficient and better for air quality. To others,...

Tim Latimer on Solving the Financing Problem for Geothermal

13 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Geothermal is a promising technology to provide clean, low-cost, baseload power to the electricity grid. It works by getting heat from deep in the gro...

Why You Can't Get a One-Click Mortgage Refi

12 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

You can do a lot of things with the click of a button nowadays. You can get insurance, open a bank account, or trade 347 different stocks all at once ...

How the Hedge Fund Magnetar Is Financing the AI Boom

09 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

AI software and the hardware that enables it have been hugely popular investments this year. But there have still been limiting factors on the sector,...

Ethan Kurzweil on Venture Investing in the Post-ZIRP, AI Era

06 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the 2010s, we saw an incredible boom in the venture capital space, fueled in part by cheap capital as well as cheap compute. Fast forward to today,...

Nouriel Roubini's Vision for a New Safe Haven Asset

05 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For years, investors have relied on the classic 60/40 portfolio of stocks and bonds. The idea behind this was simple: bonds tend to go up when stocks ...

Goldman's Hatzius and Kostin on Markets and Macro in 2025

02 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's trite to say that there is a high degree of uncertainty right now, for macro forecasters and investors. It also happens to be true. The new admin...

Lots More on the Coming 20-Year Storm with Viktor Shvets

29 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The election of Donald Trump, with his promise of more tariffs and a much tighter stance on immigration is a source of major macro uncertainty. To som...

How Oaktree's Head of Sourcing Finds the Next Great Deal

28 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to credit investing (or really any investing), there's an analytic art in deciding the right price to pay for a security. But often that...

Inside the Blood Sport of Creditor-on-Creditor Violence

25 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the Zirp era of the mid-2010s, credit markets were booming and investors were clamoring for anything that would produce yield. So they were willing...

The Harvard Endowment Is on the Verge of Losing Its Crown

22 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For years, the Harvard Endowment has easily been the largest endowment of any university. But as of right now, it's at risk of losing its crown to the...

Odd Arne Westad on how China First Joined the Global Capitalist Economy

21 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How did China become the economic behemoth that it is today? One pivotal moment was, obviously, it's ascension into the WTO. Prior to that, the era of...

How Fraudsters Are Bilking the Government Out of Billions of Dollars

18 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After his victory, Donald Trump announced that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would be leading up a new Department of Government Efficiency in order to...

Beak Capitalism, Part 3: Un-Clucking the System

17 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the final episode of our special three-part series exploring the US economy through the chicken industry, we’re taking a look at market competiti...

Beak Capitalism, Part 2: The Chickenization of Everything

16 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Odd Lots team is analyzing the US economy through the lens of chicken. In this second episode of our special three-part series, we look at the bir...

Beak Capitalism, Part 1: Chickflation

15 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Everybody loves chicken. And, it turns out, that this humble bird can tell us quite a lot about the way the world works. In this three-part series, th...

Richard Clarida on This Tricky Moment for the Federal Reserve

14 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Last week the Federal Reserve opted to cut interest rates by 25 basis points, which was what the market expected it to do. But things get more uncerta...

Introducing: Beak Capitalism, presented by Odd Lots

13 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this limited series, Odd Lots explains some of the thorniest issues facing the US economy through the medium of … chicken. Chicken occupies a uni...

Can You Ever Actually De-Risk The Banking System?

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Over the last roughly 15 years, we've seen a migration of certain types of risks outside of regulated deposit-taking banks. Private credit has boomed,...

Max Read on how the Internet Got Infested With Garbage

08 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

There was a a point in time when Twitter used to be good for breaking news. Social media outlets like Instagram and Facebook were great for keeping up...

Harley Bassman on Trump, the Fed, and the Bond Market

07 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The US election is over and Donald Trump has won a second term as president. Stocks have rallied on Trump's win, of course, but some of the more inter...

Odd Lots Live: What to Watch on Election Night and Beyond

05 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's Election Day in the US, so there's no need for any real explanation of what's at stake. Last night in New York City, we hosted a special live Odd...

Listen Now: US Election Coverage on Bloomberg Podcasts

04 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Be in the know this election with Bloomberg Podcasts. Follow Bloomberg News Now for up-to-the minute election results, all night long. And go deeper w...

Ezra Klein On the Legacy of Bidenomics

04 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Biden administration has overseen a revival of so-called industrial policy in a way that we haven't seen in years. Major efforts are underway to r...

What the Nuclear Power Revival Means for the Price of Uranium

01 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

There's something of a uranium cult out there: the investors and traders who believe that nuclear is the future of energy, and therefore this crucial ...

Big Take Asia: The US Pledged to Contain China’s Tech Ambitions. It’s Not Working.

01 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

China is making steady progress in its quest to dominate key industries of the future, despite years of US tariffs, export controls and sanctions.  C...