2026-02-09
9 分钟The Economist.
Hello and welcome to Editor's Picks.
Ethan Wu here.
I'm one of the hosts of Money Talks, our business and finance podcast.
You're about to hear an article from the latest edition of The Economist.
Thanks for listening.
Over the past year, President Donald Trump has bullied America's allies with tariffs,
bludgeoned the Federal Reserve and treated the budget deficit as if it were just a distraction.
Yet most asset markets blithely carry on as if nothing were wrong.
In the past 12 months,
the S&P 500 index of stocks has risen by 14%
as investors have piled into artificial intelligence or AI.
Growth in America is still the envy of the world.
The 10-year Treasury yield, which should rise with the risk of inflation or default,
is 4.3% lower than when Mr Trump took his oath of office.
Yet look closely and the picture is darker and more complex.
Since a peak in January 2025,
the dollar has lost a tenth of its value against a broad basket of currencies.
As a result, in foreign currency terms, the performance of American assets has been poor.
When denominated in euros, for example, American stocks have barely risen over the past year.