The last treaty limiting nuclear weapons deployments by the US and Russia expires on Thursday, ending more than 50 years of restraints on the world’s two biggest nuclear powers. Russia has offered a one-year extension to New START, which was originally signed in 2010 by then-presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama. No “substantive reaction” has been received from the US, Medvedev, now deputy c...
The last treaty limiting nuclear weapons deployments by the US and Russia expires on Thursday, ending more than 50 years of restraints on the world’s two biggest nuclear powers. Russia has offered a one-year extension to New START, which was originally signed in 2010 by then-presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama. No “substantive reaction” has been received from the US, Medvedev, now deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, said in a recent interview with the Kommersant...
China’s economic locomotive Shanghai is aiming for a growth rate of around 5 per cent this year, after gradually rebounding since 2023 and reaching a better-than-expected 5.4 per cent growth last year. The megacity, whose economic size is comparable to that of Belgium with last year’s GDP totalling 5.67 trillion yuan (US$816.2 billion), is upgrading its role as a global financial, trade and shippi...
China’s economic locomotive Shanghai is aiming for a growth rate of around 5 per cent this year, after gradually rebounding since 2023 and reaching a better-than-expected 5.4 per cent growth last year. The megacity, whose economic size is comparable to that of Belgium with last year’s GDP totalling 5.67 trillion yuan (US$816.2 billion), is upgrading its role as a global financial, trade and shipping centre, Mayor Gong Zheng told the city’s annual plenary sessions on Tuesday. The government is leading more foreign businesses to invest in advanced manufacturing, modern services, cutting-edge technologies and green projects, with research and development expenditure equivalent to 4.6 per cent of total GDP this year, Gong said in his government work report as the city’s legislature and political advisory body gathered. Advertisement A batch of foreign-funded projects in finance, telecoms, healthcare, culture and tourism will be launched, he said, vowing to support multinational firms to expand their regional headquarters and R&D centres and protect their legitimate rights. As a new five-year planning cycle begins in 2026, Shanghai sees the next five years as a decisive period to achieve its 2035 goals, including becoming “a socialist modern and international metropolis with global influence”, according to the report. Advertisement The city already “accomplished a leap” at the close of the 14th five-year plan period, with its GDP ranking fifth among global cities for the first time in 2025, the Shanghai Academy of Development and Reform was quoted by local official media as saying. In the past it was listed behind Paris and London, with New York, Tokyo and Los Angeles at the top. As it seeks to rival the world’s top cities in finance, the municipal government is exploring an offshore financial system, pacing up the development of a “home-grown and controllable” cross-border yuan payment system, while channelling more resources towards domestic demand expansion and techno...
A cast of handsome dudes, some beautiful scenery and violence reminiscent of 2015’s Bone Tomahawk make this a watchable, if plodding, ride Based on the novel Desert Stake-Out by Harry Whittington, this slow-burn western set in 1872’s Arizona gets plenty right, but has a tendency to plod where it could have giddy-ed up. Our hero is one Merrick Beckford, played by Myles Clohessy (son of character ac...
A cast of handsome dudes, some beautiful scenery and violence reminiscent of 2015’s Bone Tomahawk make this a watchable, if plodding, ride Based on the novel Desert Stake-Out by Harry Whittington, this slow-burn western set in 1872’s Arizona gets plenty right, but has a tendency to plod where it could have giddy-ed up. Our hero is one Merrick Beckford, played by Myles Clohessy (son of character actor Robert Clohessy), who has been entrusted by William H Macy (in a single-scene cameo) with a wagonload of medical supplies in need of a courier. Along the way, Merrick encounters a father-son duo, Mule (Thomas Jane) and Billy (Ryan Masson), a wrong ’un called Edmund (Armie Hammer, appearing on screen for the first time since 2022’s Death on the Nile), and a wounded husband (Eli Brown) and defenceless wife (Mary Stickley). As obvious weak link Billy, Masson is particularly good; poor decision-making feels written into his physicality and way of being in the world, and you’re just waiting to see how this weird little guy is going to mess up. Continue reading...
The stars get big audiences and complex characters to develop. We’ve lucked out in this golden age of streaming shows, and so have they Shrinking, the TV series about Jason Segel’s Jimmy, a grieving psychotherapist who can’t stop telling patients what he really thinks, seems pretty innocuous on paper . From Frasier to In Treatment to Sex Education , there’s no shortage of TV dramas about dysfuncti...
The stars get big audiences and complex characters to develop. We’ve lucked out in this golden age of streaming shows, and so have they Shrinking, the TV series about Jason Segel’s Jimmy, a grieving psychotherapist who can’t stop telling patients what he really thinks, seems pretty innocuous on paper . From Frasier to In Treatment to Sex Education , there’s no shortage of TV dramas about dysfunctional therapists. What marks Shrinking out from the crowd is the presence of Harrison Ford, who plays Jimmy’s octogenarian mentor. Here we see a Hollywood megastar getting high on edibles, wrestling with his failures as a father and trying to keep a lid on his Parkinson’s symptoms. Though Segel shares top billing with Ford, the latter is the main draw and gets all the best lines. Paramount’s 1923 , showrunner Taylor Sheridan’s prequel to Yellowstone , similarly draws on Ford’s elder statesman status as it depicts a ranching family’s efforts to maintain their wealth and status during the Great Depression. Ford’s co-star is Helen Mirren, another octogenarian actor who previously appeared with him in the 1986 film The Mosquito Coast. Set in Montana, 1923 is a classy drama that makes high art of its protagonists’ craggy features along with their penchant for brutality. Fiona Sturges is an arts writer Continue reading...
The author of The North Water vividly captures bleak beauty and brutish appetites on an 18th-century expedition into the frozen wilds of Canada It was Ian McGuire’s second novel, The North Water , longlisted for the Booker prize in 2016 and later adapted for television , that established his reputation for savage historical noir. A professor of American literature at the University of Manchester, ...
The author of The North Water vividly captures bleak beauty and brutish appetites on an 18th-century expedition into the frozen wilds of Canada It was Ian McGuire’s second novel, The North Water , longlisted for the Booker prize in 2016 and later adapted for television , that established his reputation for savage historical noir. A professor of American literature at the University of Manchester, McGuire specialises in the late 19th-century realist tradition; at its best his work blends the unsparing violence of Cormac McCarthy with a bleak lyricism reminiscent of Welsh poet RS Thomas. Both The North Water, set onboard a whaling ship dispatched from Hull to Baffin Bay in 1859, and The Abstainer , inspired by the hanging of three Irish rebels in Manchester a decade later, probed the grisly underbelly of Victorian imperialism, harsh worlds where a “man’s life on its own is nothing much to talk about”. In White River Crossing, McGuire travels across the Atlantic and back another 100 years to the Prince of Wales Fort, a remote trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company in what is now northern Manitoba. Founded by royal charter in 1670 and granted sole right of trade and commerce across some 1.5m sq km of territory, the British venture was established to exploit the indigenous fur trade, but investors also hoped for other profitable discoveries, particularly silver and gold. Continue reading...
Investors in Indian assets rejoiced at the surprise news that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had finally reached a deal with President Donald Trump on trade. Stocks jumped the most since 2021, while the rupee posted its biggest gain in three years. The agreement, announced by Trump on social media, has been dubbed by some in India as the “father of all deals” — coming just days after India struck a ...
Investors in Indian assets rejoiced at the surprise news that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had finally reached a deal with President Donald Trump on trade. Stocks jumped the most since 2021, while the rupee posted its biggest gain in three years. The agreement, announced by Trump on social media, has been dubbed by some in India as the “father of all deals” — coming just days after India struck a free trade deal with the EU that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the “ mother of deals .” The latest development seems a win for Modi. US tariffs will be lowered to 18% from a punitive 50%, which is a lower levy than rivals Pakistan, Bangladesh or Vietnam achieved. The deal also takes the wind out of the sails of Modi’s political opposition, who had mocked India’s leader for allowing Trump to push such high tariffs on India in the first place. Yet the devil is in the details, which right now are lacking . Modi confirmed the pact in a post on social media, but he didn’t provide information on oil or agricultural imports, which had been a major sticking point for New Delhi. As Bloomberg Opinion’s Andy Mukherjee points out , Trump’s post says that Modi agreed to stop buying Russian oil and to purchase “much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela,” but Modi’s acknowledgement makes no mention of Russian oil. Furthermore, Trump said India would cut tariffs on US goods to zero as well as buy more than $500 billion of American products — another claim that Modi’s government has yet to confirm. And as South Korea has recently seen , agreeing a trade deal with Trump doesn’t necessarily mean the end of US intimidation . Either way, the news comes at a key moment for India’s financial markets. The rupee has been trading near all-time lows , while foreign investors have been net sellers of Indian equities both last year and in January. The deal removes an overhang for the market, but the longevity of the rejoicing will depend on a better unders...
Listen to Odd Lots on Apple Podcasts Listen to Odd Lots on Spotify Watch Odd Lots on YouTube Subscribe to the newsletter In the 90s, there was a lot of talk about how the Internet would be a liberalizing force in the world. Bill Clinton famously predicted that it would be impossible for China to lock down the Internet, and that this would have profound effects on domestic politics. Of course that ...
Listen to Odd Lots on Apple Podcasts Listen to Odd Lots on Spotify Watch Odd Lots on YouTube Subscribe to the newsletter In the 90s, there was a lot of talk about how the Internet would be a liberalizing force in the world. Bill Clinton famously predicted that it would be impossible for China to lock down the Internet, and that this would have profound effects on domestic politics. Of course that didn't come true -- China has done a remarkable job of controlling what gets behind the firewall. But then furthermore, the Internet hasn't had the liberalizing effects in the US either. On this episode of the podcast, we speak to Yi-Ling Liu, the author of the fascinating new book The Wall Dancers : Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet. The book traces the rise of the Chinese Internet, and how its users navigate the \
bo feng/iStock via Getty Images Dear Partners, Protean Small Cap declined by -3.6% in January. The benchmark index was down -2.5%. Since launching in June 2023, the fund has gained 61.8%. The Carnegie Nordic Small Cap Index is up 22.6% in the same period. All figures are net of fees. The hedge fund Protean Select returned -2.8% in an unsatisfactory January. Protean Aktiesparfond Norden returned -2...
bo feng/iStock via Getty Images Dear Partners, Protean Small Cap declined by -3.6% in January. The benchmark index was down -2.5%. Since launching in June 2023, the fund has gained 61.8%. The Carnegie Nordic Small Cap Index is up 22.6% in the same period. All figures are net of fees. The hedge fund Protean Select returned -2.8% in an unsatisfactory January. Protean Aktiesparfond Norden returned -2.3%. The benchmark increased by 2.7%. Since inception, ten months ago, the fund is up 17%, and in the same period the VINX Nordic Cap index is up 13.7%. It now manages 1.7bn SEK. This month’s letter elaborates on the Award Curse, a decomposition of global equity management, an emerging dislocation in Nordic small caps, how to play the infinite game, why we must imagine Sisyphus happy, and why we have reduced risk but still see opportunities. Plus, as always, commentary on the month's various winners and losers. Thank you for being an investor! - Team Protean The Award Curse January 2026 • Written By Pontus Dackmo Is it a coincidence that our hedge fund recorded a negative month immediately after being named “Hedge Fund of the Year” for 2025 by Privata Affärer? We are tempted to reassure all stakeholders that this is entirely unrelated. Unfortunately, both academic literature and lived experience suggest exactly the opposite. Awards are, by design, backward-looking, and tend to arrive precisely when a strategy has been working a little too well. As skill and luck are hard to untangle in this industry, it raises the question of whether the performance that led to the award was heavily influenced by the latter. And luck is, in its purest form, sadly, not a repeatable process. In that sense, industry recognition is less a validation of high expected future returns and more a mildly embarrassing reminder of mean reversion. Practically, for Protean, nothing about an award improves our fundamental opportunity set, lowers our entry prices or makes our short positions go down faster...
In the 90s, there was a lot of talk about how the Internet would be a liberalizing force in the world. Bill Clinton famously predicted that it would be impossible for China to lock down the Internet, and that this would have profound effects on domestic politics. Of course that didn’t come true — China has done a remarkable job of controlling what gets behind the firewall. But then furthermore, th...
In the 90s, there was a lot of talk about how the Internet would be a liberalizing force in the world. Bill Clinton famously predicted that it would be impossible for China to lock down the Internet, and that this would have profound effects on domestic politics. Of course that didn’t come true — China has done a remarkable job of controlling what gets behind the firewall. But then furthermore, the Internet hasn’t had the liberalizing effects in the US either. On this episode of the podcast, we
Euro-zone banks unexpectedly tightened corporate credit standards at the end of 2025, raising doubts about investment and economic activity before the European Central Bank sets interest rates this week. “Concerns about the outlook for firms and the broader economy, as well as banks’ lower risk tolerance, contributed” to the move, the ECB said Tuesday in its fourth-quarter Bank Lending Survey. Ask...
Euro-zone banks unexpectedly tightened corporate credit standards at the end of 2025, raising doubts about investment and economic activity before the European Central Bank sets interest rates this week. “Concerns about the outlook for firms and the broader economy, as well as banks’ lower risk tolerance, contributed” to the move, the ECB said Tuesday in its fourth-quarter Bank Lending Survey. Asked about the impact of changes in trade policies and related uncertainty, almost half of the banks assessed their exposure as “important,” it said. They expect another slight tightening of standards for companies in the first quarter of 2026. Lending trends help the ECB gauge how efficiently monetary policy is reaching the economy. While officials concluded in December that pass-through of rate cuts remained smooth , they called for close monitoring amid worries about a sudden financial-market correction. A blog last week by four ECB economists found the recent credit recovery to be more gradual than in past episodes and highlighted the key role bank lending plays in supporting activity in the real economy. The region has so far proved resilient to headwinds like tariffs, expanding 0.3% in the fourth quarter. That topped expectations and supports the case to keep borrowing costs unchanged again on Thursday. But jolts in Donald Trump ’s trade policies remain a risk. Tuesday’s report also showed another small increase in companies’ appetite for credit. “Firms’ loan demand was primarily driven by an increase in demand for inventories and working capital and other financing needs, whereas fixed investment continued to make an overall neutral net contribution,” it said. For housing, the ECB reported another increase in credit demand and a slight easing of lending standards. Euro-Zone Economy Beats Estimates, Defying Trade Turmoil ECB Locked on Hold as Calls for Hikes This Year Fade, Poll Shows ECB Backed Full Optionality on Rates But Felt in ‘Good Place’