

Strait Signals: Assessing the Iran War Risk Premium
A wider Middle East war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, seen for years as extreme ‘what-if’ risks, are now realities. The ranges of macroeconomic and geopolitical outcomes are as vast as they are unknowable, but reasonable future scenarios are starting to take shape. This week, we speak to…

The Great Rotation: Stocks Under the Surface
While geopolitical uncertainty dominates headlines, this week’s episode digs deeper into themes driving markets before the weekend’s events — particularly the sharp rotation in equities in 2026 and the reassessment of crowded AI‑linked trades and their fundamental drivers. Cayla Seder, senior multi…

Trading the Policy Whiplash
Market volatility continues to climb in February, with a landmark Supreme Court ruling on US tariffs last week upending US trade policy in an afternoon. Questions now circle as to whether last years trade-induced USD weakness that was expected to continue into 2026 is now at risk of reversal. Meanw…

The Year of the Fire Horse: China in Focus
In celebration of Lunar New Year, we take a deep dive into China’s political economy. Despite trade tensions, a weak consumer and a halting post‑COVID recovery, a powerful export boom kept China on track last year—and could do so again in 2026. Fresh off a two-week fact-finding trip across the coun…

AI, Labor Disruptions and the Future of the Fed
The changing of the guard at the top of the Federal Reserve comes at a crucial time for policymakers and markets. It is far from certain whether the promise of artificial intelligence heralds an era of stronger trend growth, or if the displacement in labor markets that might result will prove more …

The Roots of Risk
Everybody loves an origin story, this week’s podcast has two. Featuring clips from our first episode, before the podcast even had a name, with our first guest, Fred Goodwin, a.k.a. Mr. Risk, we talk about the formative years of both the medium and the messenger. As his retirement nears, we look bac…

The US Dollar Time Machine: Relevant Lessons from History
Extrapolating past results to predict future outcomes is typically futile. But what if we could isolate the most statistically relevant historic parallels towards making better forecasts? This week, we discuss the techniques of relevance based prediction and how more robust and successful outlooks …

Taking Stock of '26: A Conversation with Ron O'Hanley
Ron O’Hanley, Chairman and CEO of State Street, is back on the podcast for a wide‑ranging discussion, looking back on the main stories of 2025 and ahead to the forces shaping 2026. Ron and host Tim Graf explore whether risks that once loomed large have faded or simply changed form, and how growth, …

Tackling the 2026 Consensus
The start of the year is always a convenient time to think about consensus risk. Market watchers have all updated their forecasts and published their year ahead pieces. For the first episode of Street Signals in 2026, host Tim Graf, head of Macro Strategy for EMEA, carries on a tradition in going t…

The Best Reads of 2025
Just before Christmas, it's tradition for the Macro Strategy Team at State Street Markets to publish recommendations of the best things we've read, listened to or watched over the previous year. Common patterns often emerge and it is often the case that our choices are informed by our work analyzin…