Odd Lots

China Made a Chip Breakthrough That Shocked the World

07 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Both the Trump administration and the Biden administration made moves to constrain China's ability to build out an advanced homegrown technology indus...

Another Part of Commercial Real Estate Is in For a Reckoning

06 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to commercial real estate, a lot of attention is obviously paid to offices. But it's not the only sector facing strains. Apartment build...

What Dead Malls Tell Us About the Future of Commercial Real Estate

04 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There's been a lot of worry over the future of commercial real estate — especially the outlook for office buildings — in light of higher interest ...

Lots More with Brad Setser

01 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Argentina has always been interesting from an economic and financial markets perspective, to put it mildly. And it's gotten even more interesting foll...

Josh Younger Explains How Banks Really Manage Rate Risk

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The rate banks pay on savings accounts hit the headlines earlier this year, when an outflow of deposits contributed to the collapse of Silicon Valley ...

A Stunning Lawsuit Could Change How Realtors Get Paid

29 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Last month, a Missouri jury found that real estate brokers colluded to artificially inflate and fix their own commissions, and as a result, ordered th...

Goldman's Jan Hatzius Believes the Hard Part Is Over

27 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Going into 2023, the conventional wisdom was that a recession was likely in store. Instead, it didn't happen. What we saw is continued disinflation, e...

Magic the Gathering's Creator Wants to Create an Even Better Game

23 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

 Since bursting onto the scene in the mid-1990s, Magic the Gathering has become one of the most popular games of all time, with millions of players c...

Here's What's Going Wrong in the US Offshore Wind Industry

22 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The effort to decarbonize the US electricity grid involves a range of technologies and power sources. Solar is part of the solution, nuclear may also ...

Why Private Credit's Been Booming Even as Interest Rates Go Up

20 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It's no secret that the market for private credit has boomed in recent years. The surprising thing is that it has continued to do so even as interest ...

The Fed's Michael Barr on Real-Time Payments and the Basel Endgame

17 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Barr is a busy man these days. As the Federal Reserve's vice-chair for supervision, he's looking at ways of making the financial system safer ...

Lina Khan Is Sending a Message to the Private Equity Industry

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Since becoming chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan has arguably taken a novel approach to antitrust, one that incorporates broader ideas ...

What's Been Happening With the Iranian Stock Market

13 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Back in 2020, we spoke with Maciej Wojtal, a London-based fund manager who specializes in Iranian stocks. This market is one of the most unfamiliar in...

The OCC’s Michael Hsu on the Big Risks Facing Banking Businesses Right Now

09 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Earlier this year, we saw the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate Bank following a run on deposits and big losses on their portfolios of bo...

Introducing: Elon, Inc.

08 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

At Bloomberg, we’re always talking about the biggest business stories, and no one is bigger than Elon Musk. In this new chat weekly show, host David...

The Economics of Building a Childcare Business

06 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Finding good, high quality childcare has been a growing challenge in the US for a long time. The pandemic only made the situation worse, with all kind...

Dimensional Co-CEO Gerard O'Reilly on the Future of Fund Management

02 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dimensional Fund Advisors is one of the fastest growing providers of mutual funds and ETFs. It was founded in the early 1980s, built upon University o...

What the Summer of Strikes Means For The Broader Economy

30 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This special episode of Odd Lots was recorded live at the Bloomberg Screentime festival earlier this month in Los Angeles, where the summer strikes by...

The Incredible Rise of the Celsius Energy Drink

26 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For awhile, it was Red Bull that was synonymous with energy drinks. Then Monster Energy came along and turned into one of the best performing stocks o...

What's Really Standing in the Way of a Nuclear Renaissance?

23 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The US is taking a fresh look at nuclear power. After a dearth of construction, and de-commissioning of working nuclear plants, people are talking, ye...

Lots More with Gregory Brew

20 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

So far, the war between Israel and Hamas has had only a mild impact on world markets. Oil prices are higher than they were prior to the terrorist atta...

This Is What an 8% Mortgage Means For the Housing Market

19 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Mortgage rates have surged over the last couple of years. But surprisingly to some, actual home prices in the US have been resilient. This has created...

How An Old Banking Regulation May Have Driven The 1970s Inflation

16 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There remains a lot of anxiety over whether inflation in the US will gather steam all over again. Part of this worry stems from the fact that there we...

NY's Cannabis Rollout Could Destroy a Legal Entrepreneur

11 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When New York legalized recreational cannabis for adults, it didn't just want to fling the gates wide open for anyone to take part. Instead it specifi...

JPMorgan's Jay Barry on the Big Selloff in Bonds

11 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the past week, the bond market has experienced a historic selloff. Yields on benchmark 10-year US Treasuries soared towards 4.9% while those on 30-...

Jigar Shah on the Pathway to Clean, Cheap, and Abundant Energy

06 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jigar Shah is the head of the Loan Programs Office at the Department of Energy and thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, he has hundreds of billions ...

Austan Goolsbee on the 'Golden Path' to a Soft Landing

04 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Can a soft landing be achieved? This is still a wide open question, given the highly uncertain macro environment. On the one hand, you have had a cont...

The Fed's Tom Barkin On the Impact of Higher Interest Rates

02 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The US economy has so far withstood the effects of higher interest rates a lot better than expected. Unemployment is still at historic lows, even whil...

Lots More with Matt Levine and Mike Mackenzie

29 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For those who can't get enough Odd Lots, we're now offering you... "Lots More." This new podcast show, appearing on Fridays, will see hosts Tracy Allo...

The Real Pain From Rate Hikes May Still Be on the Way

28 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Federal Reserve has hiked rates in rapid fashion, yet the evidence of their impact is scarce. Inflation is still hot (though it has come down quit...

Why the Degrowth Movement Is Having a Moment

27 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to economics, there are a bunch of different schools to choose from, but pretty much all of them are focused on boosting growth. Except,...

Why Insurers Are Pulling Out of High-Risk Areas

25 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This year has seen a spate of insurance companies announcing that they're leaving markets like Florida and California, citing the increased risk of na...

Steven Rattner on the UAW Strike and the Challenges of Bidenomics

22 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When the US auto industry needed a restructuring or bailout in 2009, the Obama administration tapped former banker and investor Steven Rattner to lead...

Morgan Housel on the New Way We Think About Money

21 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When generations undergo any kind of collective life-changing event, it shapes how people think about money -- and how they think about spending and i...

Oaktree's Wayne Dahl on Credit Markets Right Now

18 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In theory, the Federal Reserve operates by tightening the supply of credit. Or at least making it more close. Yet so far, despite the rate hikes, the ...

Lots More With Neil Dutta

15 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For those who can't get enough Odd Lots, we're now offering you... "Lots More." This new podcast show, appearing on Fridays, will see hosts Tracy Allo...

Senator Chris Coons on How to Fix Our Response to Avian Flu

14 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Last year, consumers around the country experienced an explosion in the price of eggs, in part due to an outbreak of avian flu. Since then, egg prices...

Bill Gross on the End of the Great Bond Bull Market

13 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Bill Gross became known as the Bond King during his legendary, multi-decade run at Pimco, eventually growing the company to manage trillions of dollar...

What Rising Rates and Surging Insurance Prices Are Doing to Real Estate

11 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In some respects, the real estate market has been surprisingly resilient in the face of rising interest rates. Homebuilders have generally performed w...

Self-Driving Cars Might Finally Be For Real This Time

07 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A decade ago, there was a lot of hype about self driving cars. In fact, there was more interest in self-driving cars than there was in electric vehicl...

This Is How New York City Gets Its Produce

04 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Certain people claim that New York City has a reputation for... not having the best fruits and vegetables. This is a controversial point and not every...

Hyun Song Shin on the New Financial Stability Risks

31 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

At Jackson Hole, the Kansas City Fed's annual gathering for economists and central bankers, there's a lot of focus on the short-term path of monetary ...

Adam Posen Has a Warning on the Danger of Bidenomics

30 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Biden administration has undertaken an aggressive effort to revitalize domestic manufacturing, particularly in areas like semiconductors and green...

Barry Eichengreen on the New Era of High Government Debt

29 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In recent years, the absolute level of government debt around the world has risen dramatically. The Covid emergency unleashed a huge wave of public-se...

Darrell Duffie On How to Fix the World’s Most Important Market

28 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the global financial system, US Treasuries play a special role. They’re basically as close to cash as a financial asset can get and their yields ...

This Is What We Just Learned In Jackson Hole

26 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Friday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gave his much-anticipated speech at the Kansas City Fed Monetary Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyom...

BONUS EPISODE: Bloomberg Surveillance in Jackson Hole

25 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Bloomberg Surveillance comes to the Odd Lots podcast!  Listen for a special edition of Bloomberg Surveillance from the Federal Reserve's annual sympo...

Why Tractor Supply Is One of the Most Interesting Retailers On the Planet

24 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tractor Supply Co. has grown from a small mail order business set up in the 1930s into the biggest farm and ranch retailer operating in the US. Along ...

The Four Big Structural Forces Holding Back China's Economy

21 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Chinese economy is in a slump. Industrial production is down. Retail sales are down. The property industry continues to struggle. The People's Ban...

Here's How the New Weight Loss Drugs Could Change Everything

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There's a new class of weight-loss drugs in town. GLP-1 medications including Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro were created to treat diabetes but have sin...

How Economic Complexity Explains Which Countries Become Rich

14 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Why do some countries become rich while others stagnate? And can you predict which countries become wealthy in advance of them actually increasing the...

Paul Krugman on UFOs, AI and Room Temperature Superconductors

11 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There have been a number of news stories lately that seem straight out of science fiction. We've heard claims before Congress that the government is s...

The Two Strikes That Ground Hollywood to a Halt

10 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Movie and TV productions have come to a nearly complete stop in Hollywood. Both the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America are on strike...

What the UAW Wants From Its Fight With the Big Three

07 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On September 14, the contract between the United Auto Workers and the Big Three carmakers (GM, Ford and Stellantis) is expiring — and the possibilit...

The Chinese EV Maker That's Selling More Cars Than Tesla

03 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the US, Tesla remains far and away the dominant maker of electric vehicles. But on a global scale, the situation is much more competitive. Over the...

DOJ's Jonathan Kanter on the Bidenomics Approach to Antitrust

31 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A key plank of the Biden administration's "Bidenomics" involves stronger antitrust enforcement and we've seen the White House empower agencies like th...

The Massive Shift Underway in the US Banking System

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When Silicon Valley Bank imploded, there was a lot of talk about the future of regional and community banks in the United States. Can they compete wit...

Are We About to See the Shortest Housing Cycle Ever?

24 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Last year, as the Federal Reserve hiked rates to the highest levels in decades, there were lots of warnings about an imminent collapse in the US housi...

How to Build the Ultimate GPU Cloud to Power AI

20 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Artificial Intelligence is all the rage right now and most of the investor excitement has so far been focused on the companies providing the hardware ...

Josh Wolfe on Where Investors Will Make Money in AI

17 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We're in the midst of an AI mania of sorts. In public markets, investors are placing bets on the companies perceived as being the winners of this new ...

Understanding the Real Fight Over Water in Arizona

14 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Arizona recently announced new constraints on housing development in the areas around Phoenix. At issue is water rights and scarcity, which have been ...

An Arizona Farmer on How to Grow Alfalfa in the Middle of the Desert

13 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Due to a combination of drought, climate change and booming growth, Arizona is facing looming water scarcity. But for all the sprawl and population in...

Richard Koo on China's Risk of 'Japanification'

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Richard Koo literally wrote the book on balance sheet recessions, or the idea that large levels of debt can weigh on future growth for years and even ...

What It Really Takes to Convert an Office Building Into Apartments

06 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Big cities like New York have two real estate problems. Housing is scarce and office buildings are empty (or at least under-utilized.) So there would ...

Jared Bernstein on the Next Stage of Bidenomics

04 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

President Biden recently made it clear that what we're seeing play out in the economy now is the result of "Bidenomics." The current expansion has def...

Bridgewater's Greg Jensen on AI, Inflation and What Markets Are Getting Wrong

03 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Every industry is trying to figure out just how AI or Large Language Models can be used to do business. But Bridgewater Associates, the world's larges...

Zoltan Pozsar on His Next Big Move and the Coming Monetary Divorce

30 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Zoltan Pozsar has built a reputation for covering the intricacies of money markets. For the past eight years, he published those insights as a strateg...

What Ben McKenzie Learned When He Started Investigating Crypto

29 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When the pandemic struck in 2020, the actor Ben McKenzie (who you might know from The OC and Gotham) had a lot of time on his hands. And like a lot of...

James Montier Explains Why Corporate Profits Keep Going Up

26 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More than a decade ago, GMO strategist James Montier published a paper predicting that corporate profit margins were destined to come down from "noseb...

Why Saudi Arabia Is Spending Millions on Soccer Stars

23 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Saudi Arabia has been spending hundreds of millions of dollars snapping up international soccer stars in recent months, including legendary players li...

This Is How Finance and Banking Worked Before Computers

22 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We're used to thinking of modern finance as practically synonymous with computers. Banks are basically just big collections of Excel spreadsheets, kee...

Josh Younger on the Surprising Origins of Eurodollars and Petrodollars

19 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

De-dollarization is all the rage right now, with lots of talk about whether the US currency will be able to maintain its dominant status in the global...

Steve Eisman on Banks, AI and His Next Big Bet

16 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Steve Eisman is known for having bet against the housing market prior to the Great Financial Crisis in a trade immortalized by Michael Lewis in The Bi...

The Eyeball-Scanning Plan Designed to Save Us From AI

15 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There are all kinds of societal concerns emerging out of the rise of artificial intelligence. Will it put us all out of work? Will fraudsters be able ...

This Is What Happens When Governments Build Software

12 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There's a lot of frustration about the government's ability to build things in the US. Subways. Bridges. High-speed rail. Electricity transmission. Bu...

Brad Setser on How World Trade Changed In the Last Three Years

09 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A lot has happened since we last spoke to Brad Setser in April 2020, towards the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. For a start, Setser was appointed...

Isabella Weber on the Big Rethink of Inflation

08 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Earlier this year, Odd Lots talked about the idea of companies taking advantage of bottlenecks and other disruptions to raise their prices. Since then...

Jim Grant Sees an Era of Higher Rates That Could Last For Years

05 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you think interest rates seem high right now, you might be operating with too short of a perspective. For a longer-term perspective, you'd want to ...

Counterfeiting Scandals Keep Slamming the Commodities Market

01 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Earlier this year, it emerged that the London Metals Exchange had been holding a bunch of bags filled with stones instead of the nickel needed to back...

This Is How We'll Know If the CHIPS Act Is Working

29 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The US government is spending billions of dollars to build out state-of-the-art domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity. But spending money is n...

Slack Founder Stewart Butterfield on AI, Software, and the End of the Tech Boom

25 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Stewart Butterfield has been at the forefront of two epochal turning points for tech. First, he was the co-founder of the photo sharing site Flickr, t...

On the Debt Ceiling, the White House Is Doing What It Said It Wouldn't Do

24 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 2011, then-Vice President Biden had a front row seat to a bruising debt ceiling standoff between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boeh...

What Needs to Happen for the Renminbi to Seriously Compete With the Dollar

22 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There's a lot of discussion these days about de-dollarization and whether the US dollar will lose its standing as the world's sole reserve currency. G...

We're In the Midst of Trucking Bloodbath 2.0

19 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A couple of years ago, it was an amazing time to have a truck or be a trucker. The goods economy was absolutely booming. Prices were booming. Supply c...

CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam on the Fight to Regulate Crypto

18 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We're still in the middle of a "crypto winter" with the price of coins well off their highs from back in 2021. But debates over how to regulate them a...

The CME's Terry Duffy on the Big Risks He's Seeing Now

15 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Terry Duffy is the chairman and CEO of CME Group, the world's biggest derivatives exchange and a trading behemoth whose name is synonymous with Chicag...

Introducing - Spellcaster: The Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried

12 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Coming soon: When nerdy gamer Sam Bankman-Fried rocketed to fame as the world’s richest 29-year-old, he pledged to donate his billions to good cause...

Ben Smith on the End of an Era for Digital Media

12 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The 2010s saw the rise of a number of digital media startups like BuzzFeed News, Gawker Media, Vice, Business Insider and others who were set to usher...

The Fed Hiked Rates Rapidly and Housing Is as Broken as Ever

11 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Federal Reserve has hiked rates rapidly over the last 18 months, and yet inflation remains surprisingly high. Perhaps what's most surprising is th...

Inside the Battle for Chips That Will Power Artificial Intelligence

08 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Nobody knows for sure who is going to make all the money when it comes to artificial intelligence. Will it be the incumbent tech giants? Will it be st...

Care Work in the United States Has Been Broken for Years

04 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Disruptions caused by the pandemic have revealed deep flaws in our supply chain for physical goods. Certain market failures that have been left to fes...

The White Oak Shortage That Could Ruin the Bourbon Industry

01 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Some supply chain crises are acute. A bottleneck at the ports. A shortage of semiconductors. These can get fixed, to some extent, with concerted polic...

Why the Desire to Move Away From the Dollar Is Getting Real

27 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There's been a lot of discussion about the possibility of "de-dollarization," or the idea that the world could move away from using the dollar as the ...

Here Are the Signs of a Slow-Moving Credit Crunch

24 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The big headlines from March's banking crisis have receded and balances at some of the Federal Reserve's emergency lending facilities, like the discou...

Pot Lots Part 3: Righting the Wrongs of the Past

20 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Marijuana has been legalized in a number of places in the US now, but what New York is trying to do with its legal weed market is somewhat unique. Not...

Pot Lots Part 2: The Business of Big Cannabis

20 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In some respects, selling legalized cannabis should be like many other consumer goods business. You make a product people recognize and then sell it t...

Pot Lots Part 1: Birth of a Marijuana Market

20 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

New York City has long been seen as a holy grail for the legal weed industry, with millions of potential customers. And last year New York state start...

So Much of the World Economy Has Been Going in Reverse

17 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Over time, we expect the world to get richer. Yes, there are disruptions and setbacks (and we have seen several large ones in the last few years) but ...

Eight Months In, What Is Happening With Biden's CHIPS Act?

13 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In August of last year, the White House signed the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, a bipartisan effort to bring more advanced semiconductor manufacturi...

What Commercial Real Estate Stress Means for Banks and Bond Funds

10 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the last month or so, two macro risks have become top of mind for investors. One is the stability of regional banks. The other is the weakness in t...