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On this week’s market wrap, host and author of the Money Distilled newsletter, John Stepek is joined by Bloomberg Opinion columnist Marcus Ashworth to dissect the latest market moves. The pair discuss the pullback in gold and other precious metals, falling bond yields amid expectations of rate cuts from the Federal Reserve and Bank of England, and consider how the election of Japan’s new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, could shape the country’s markets and investor sentiment.

On this week&rsquo;s market wrap, host and author of the Money Distilled newsletter, John Stepek is joined by Bloomberg Opinion columnist Marcus Ashworth to dissect the latest market moves. The pair discuss the pullback in gold and other precious metals, falling bond yields amid expectations of rate cuts from the Federal Reserve and Bank of England, and consider how the election of Japan&rsquo;s new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, could shape the country&rsquo;s markets and investor sentiment.

Merryn Talks Money with Bloomberg senior columnist Merryn Somerset Webb is your key to understanding how markets work – and how you can make them work for you. Every episode features a relaxed but in-depth conversation with a fund manager, a strategist, a Bloomberg expert or just someone Merryn finds particularly interesting in any given week. Listen in for the kind of insights and explanations everyone can use to help them make better saving and investing choices.

Merryn Talks Money with Bloomberg senior columnist Merryn Somerset Webb is your key to understanding how markets work – and how you can make them work for you. Every episode features a relaxed but in-depth conversation with a fund manager, a strategist, a Bloomberg expert or just someone Merryn finds particularly interesting in any given week. Listen in for the kind of insights and explanations everyone can use to help them make better saving and investing choices.

Merryn Talks Money

When Gold Loses Its Shine

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/43838631-6a42-490c-9331-b37e00efdb16/transcript

From YOLO to HALO. In this week's markets wrap, hosts Merryn Somerset Webb and John Stepek discuss why markets are ditching high multiple AI and software stocks, for "HALO" companies - heavy assets, low obsolescence - and why higher interest rates and even higher infrastructure costs may be behind the moves.

To see the article Merryn references in the episode, please follow the link below.
Special thanks to Joachim Klement who has allowed us to share this piece from his Klement on Investing Substack. 

https://klementoninvesting.substack.com/p/why-do-people-invest-in-expensive

From YOLO to HALO. In this week's markets wrap, hosts Merryn Somerset Webb and John Stepek discuss why markets are ditching high multiple AI and software stocks, for "HALO" companies - heavy assets, low obsolescence - and why higher interest rates and even higher infrastructure costs may be behind the moves. To see the article Merryn references in the episode, please follow the link below. Special thanks to Joachim Klement who has allowed us to share this piece from his Klement on Investing Substack.&nbsp; <a href="https://klementoninvesting.substack.com/p/why-do-people-invest-in-expensive">https://klementoninvesting.substack.com/p/why-do-people-invest-in-expensive</a>

Markets Wrap: From YOLO to HALO 

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/a44ced08-7576-428a-a470-b3fd01015550/transcript

Many of the graduates whose university costs were funded with Plan 2 student loans are now in their 30s, wondering why they have no money at the end of the month, and why they still owe more student debt than they left uni with. The critical mass of graduates feeling the pinch might just have been reached - and now they're feeling angry and ripped off. On this week’s personal finance edition of Merryn Talks Money, Editor at Large for Bloomberg UK Wealth, Merryn Somerset Webb and author of the Money Distilled newsletter, John Stepek unpick how Plan 2 and the new - perhaps even worse - Plan 5 loans work, how and why graduate marginal tax rates can easily exceed 50% and what tweaks could be made to ease the burden.


They also ask the overarching question: is the problem the system? Or is it the fact that the UK seems to be incapable of creating enough high paying jobs?

Many of the graduates whose university costs were funded with Plan 2 student loans are now in their 30s, wondering why they have no money at the end of the month, and why they still owe more student debt than they left uni with. The critical mass of graduates feeling the pinch might just have been reached - and now they're feeling angry and ripped off. On this week&rsquo;s personal finance edition of Merryn Talks Money, Editor at Large for Bloomberg UK Wealth, Merryn Somerset Webb and author of the Money Distilled newsletter, John Stepek unpick how Plan 2 and the new - perhaps even worse - Plan 5 loans work, how and why graduate marginal tax rates can easily exceed 50% and what tweaks could be made to ease the burden.
 They also ask the overarching question: is the problem the system? Or is it the fact that the UK seems to be incapable of creating enough high paying jobs?

The 51% Graduate Tax

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/69c67fbd-33e7-4be8-9fc9-b3fc00b7be8f/transcript

Fiona Yang, portfolio manager on the Invesco Asia Dragon Trust, joins Merryn Somerset Webb to discuss why global capital rotated from US equities into emerging Asia in 2025—and what she sees happening in 2026. She explains her valuation-driven, long-term, contrarian approach to stock selection across diverse Asian markets, and shares how she weighs risks like geopolitics, demographics, currency moves, and frothy AI-linked valuations.

Sign up to the subscriber event here: 
https://www.bloombergevents.com/ZZ3kna?utm_source=Podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&RefId=sub

Fiona Yang, portfolio manager on the Invesco Asia Dragon Trust, joins Merryn Somerset Webb to discuss why global capital rotated from US equities into emerging Asia in 2025&mdash;and what she sees happening in 2026. She explains her valuation-driven, long-term, contrarian approach to stock selection across diverse Asian markets, and shares how she weighs risks like geopolitics, demographics, currency moves, and frothy AI-linked valuations.
Sign up to the subscriber event here:&nbsp; <a href="https://www.bloombergevents.com/ZZ3kna?utm_source=Podcast&amp;utm_campaign=Podcast&amp;utm_medium=Podcast&amp;RefId=sub" data-destination="rte:bind">https://www.bloombergevents.com/ZZ3kna?utm_source=Podcast&amp;utm_campaign=Podcast&amp;utm_medium=Podcast&amp;RefId=sub</a>

Diversification Play: Why It's Not Too Late to Buy Asia

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/9b9a4b67-9ee7-41b8-93da-b3f9014473dc/transcript

When Gold Loses Its Shine

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