Bi-Weekly Geopolitical Report
Bi-Weekly Geopolitical Report – The Ukraine War at Six Months: Some Reflections (September 12, 2022)
by Bill O’Grady | PDF On February 24, Russian forces entered Ukraine. Despite warnings from U.S. intelligence about an invasion, the general consensus was that Moscow was merely threatening to act. Thus, when Russia invaded, Europe was mostly caught by surprise. Much of what followed was also unexpected. As we reach the six-month mark of… Read More »
Bi-Weekly Geopolitical Report – Agricultural Commodities in the Evolving Geopolitical Blocs (August 29, 2022)
by Patrick Fearon-Hernandez, CFA | PDF As regular readers of this report will know, Confluence has long predicted that as the United States steps back from its traditional role as global hegemon, the world will become much less globalized and countries will coalesce into at least two rival geopolitical and economic blocs—one led by the… Read More »
Bi-Weekly Geopolitical Report – The End of the World is Just the Beginning: A Book Review (August 15, 2022)
by Bill O’Grady | PDF Soon after founding Confluence Investment Management, we formulated a position that the U.S. was in the early stages of ending its hegemonic role. We postulated that this event would have a profound effect on the domestic and global economy, and, consequently, financial markets. In traveling around the country discussing this… Read More »
Bi-Weekly Geopolitical Report – Political Crises for Top U.S. Allies (August 1, 2022)
by Patrick Fearon-Hernandez, CFA | PDF It’s been a hot summer for some of the United States’ key allies, and we don’t just mean the weather. We’ve seen a major political assassination in Japan, the scandal-driven ouster of a prime minister in the United Kingdom, and a failed vote of confidence that led to the… Read More »
Bi-Weekly Geopolitical Report – The Pandemic’s Impact on Inequality (July 18, 2022)
by Natalia Fields | PDF During the global coronavirus pandemic that exploded globally in 2020, perhaps the most notable economic development was the effort by governments around the world to stop the spread of infections through lockdowns, while simultaneously trying to support incomes and economic activity via loose fiscal, monetary, and regulatory policies. Importantly, the… Read More »
Bi-Weekly Geopolitical Report – The 2022 Mid-Year Geopolitical Outlook (June 21, 2022)
by Bill O’Grady and Patrick Fearon-Hernandez, CFA | PDF (N.B. Due to the Fourth of July holiday, our next geopolitical report will be published on July 18.) As is our custom, we update our geopolitical outlook for the remainder of the year as the first half comes to a close. This report is less a… Read More »
Bi-Weekly Geopolitical Report – Mineral Commodities in the World’s New Geopolitical Blocs (June 6, 2022)
by Patrick Fearon-Hernandez, CFA | PDF For many years, we’ve discussed how the United States has been backing away from its historical role as global hegemon, setting the stage for deglobalization and a fracturing of the world into separate geopolitical and economic blocs. In our Bi-Weekly Geopolitical Report from May 9, 2022, we provided a… Read More »
Bi-Weekly Geopolitical Report – Going Nuclear with North Korea (May 23, 2022)
by Thomas Wash | PDF At nearly 5,000 nuclear warheads, Ukraine had one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world on its territory. If Ukraine hadn’t transferred those weapons to Russia in 1996, it is unlikely that Moscow would have invaded. North Korea believes it is facing a similar threat which is why it… Read More »
Bi-Weekly Geopolitical Report – Parsing the World’s New Geopolitical Blocs (May 9, 2022)
by Patrick Fearon-Hernandez, CFA | PDF For more than a decade, we at Confluence have been tracking and writing about the waning commitment of the U.S. to its role as global hegemon. We’ve shown how U.S. retrenchment and protectionism have helped erode globalization. Factors like deregulation, falling transportation costs, improved technology, and easing geopolitical tensions… Read More »