Ep. 310: Helen Thomas on Trump’s Controlled Demolition Strategy

Helen Thomas is the CEO of Blonde Money, an independent consultancy firm that analyses and monitors mispriced risks in financial markets in the US, UK and the EU. Helen has a long and distinguished career in both finance and politics. She was an adviser to the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. Previously, Helen has been a partner in the global macro hedge fund, ABD Investment Management, and a former Head of Currency Alpha for State Street Global Advisors. In this podcast we discuss: 

• Return of political risk after unusual low interest rate/low volatility world  
• S&P 500 derivative risks and upcoming correction  
• Trump’s ‘controlled demolition’ strategy 
• Framing of current trade tensions as an ‘economic war’ rather than just trade disputes 
• Economic rebalancing from Wall Street to Main Street 
• Currency wars and the dollar as a potential weapon in this economic conflict 
• Germany’s political weakness following recent elections 
• France’s unstable government and high debt-to-GDP ratio 
• Active stock picking vs broad market exposure 
• Caution on bonds  
• Maintaining some USD exposure despite expectations of controlled weakening 
• Return to a more militarized world  
• Technology competition between US and China  
• Books mentioned: Liar’s Poker (Lewis), Pioneering Portfolio Management (Swensen) 

 You can follow Helen’s work here. 

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