For more, see Hypernormal Times on Substack.

In this episode.

Inflation vs the oil war — why June's CPI and PPI prints are already out of date, and what new Fed chair Kevin Warsh's "plenty of work to do" really signals

The AI repricing — Korea's Kospi jumps 8% in a day, SK Hynix trades at a 50% premium to itself, then TSMC delivers a fifth straight record quarter (profits +59%) and the stock has its worst day in over a year. The question is no longer "is AI real?" but "what are you prepared to pay for it?"

The issuance flood — $345bn of new US stock this year, hyperscaler CapEx heading past $1 trillion, widening tech bond spreads, and why late-cycle bull markets tend to drown in exactly this kind of paper

IBM's worst day on record — down 25% as customers cannibalise legacy IT budgets to pay their AI bills

Hormuz and the Tanker Wars playbook — why crude is calm, why the real tightness is in refined products and crack spreads, and why energy is now a cheap tail-risk hedge

Gold falls 3% with a war on — the safe-haven bid goes to the dollar and energy instead

Chip diplomacy — Xi Jinping's open-source AI coalition of 29 countries, the UAE's airstrikes-for-semiconductors upgrade, and the bifurcation of AI into a Western proprietary stack vs a Chinese open-source one

Britain's car boot sale — 154 takeover bids worth £165bn since 2023, Rotork gone at a 73% premium, just 11 IPOs restocking the shelves, and the pound rallying on hopes of a fiscally conservative chancellor under PM-in-waiting Andy Burnham.

This podcast explores stocks, markets, and capital, examines the role of gold in finance, unpacks tax policy and economics, discusses pathways to financial freedom and retirement, explains how interest rates affect investing, features insights from financial advisers, analyzes inflation, recession, and market volatility, covers the actions of central banks, evaluates different assets, addresses inheritance planning, reviews portfolio construction with bonds and an isa, assesses long-term returns and allocation strategies, explores macro trends, and helps listeners understand risk and pensions.

China Will Destroy AI Margins While The UK Holds a Car Boot Sale - Hypernormal Week

Hypernormal Investing: Growing Capital & Protecting Wealth Amid Radical Uncertainty

China Will Destroy AI Margins While The UK Holds a Car Boot Sale - Hypernormal Week