Ethan Wu 🇺🇸🇹🇼
@EthanYWu
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Asia correspondent @TheEconomist. Co-host of the Money Talks pod. Prev: hosted/wrote @FT’s Unhedged pod/newsletter. Email me: ethanwu (at) economist (dot) com
Singapore
Joined May 2014
I started this week as the new co-host of Money Talks, the Economist’s finance & econ show. So excited to be podcasting w/ the brilliant duo of @Birdyword & @alice_fulwood!. With Mike leaving for NYC, it’s left me as the show’s Asia guy — all of us in Singapore will miss him!.
Big news today for the Mike Bird-watchers out there: after seven years on the Asia finance beat for The Economist and the WSJ before, I'm moving to New York early next year. I'll be covering Wall Street and US finance, still with The Economist. Very excited to get going!.
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Today is my last day at the @FT. Later this year I'm starting as Asia correspondent at @TheEconomist, based in Singapore. Writing Unhedged with the great @rbrtrmstrng has been a privilege. Rob brings the wit, wisdom and substance day in & day out. (1/4).
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First week at the Economist’s Singapore office. Pretty nice view!
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Today we launched the FT's new markets podcast, Unhedged. I'm so excited to be hosting!. It's 15 min, 2x a week, w/ a stacked FT lineup incl @rbrtrmstrng @RobinWigg @alexandrascaggs & more. Today's episode, with the legend @katie_martin_fx, is here:.
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I'm thrilled to say I'll be starting on Monday at the @FT after a fantastic few months with the markets team at Insider! . I'll be writing for the FT's daily markets newsletter Unhedged alongside full-time menswear columnist and part-time finance commentator @rbrtrmstrng.
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absolutely surreal seeing Unhedged in Times Square! many thanks to the folks @Nasdaq. latest episode w/ @katie_martin_fx, (feat. a little listener mail at the end) live here: .
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In just a few years Indonesia has come to dominate the market for nickel, a crucial metal for EV batteries. Indonesia is also now importing record amounts of raw nickel ore, despite holding the world's largest reserves. Why?
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Impressive how deep Michael Lewis embedded himself for the next book
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the FT comments section is a treasure, and this is no exception:. - calls @rbrtrmstrng Bob.- blames Bob for an article I wrote.- a perfectly reasonable take on the Fed halfway through.- Clueless Cathie.- the road to zeroville. genius!
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The multi-billion-dollar FX scam Myanmar's junta is using to fund its war
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Indonesia has a near-monopoly on nickel. There’s been a massive FDI boom in smelting, largely into islands outside already-prosperous Java. Now it wants to parlay that into making EVs. Can it work? . Possible! But I’m skeptical. 1/3
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Excited to be starting soon covering markets for @BusinessInsider! Grateful to @DJNF and the folks at Insider for the opportunity 🙏.
Meet the @DJNF Class of 2021 – 86 exceptional journalists ready to embark on a week of learning and growing, before heading to work for the nation’s top media companies.
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The same goes for podcasting w/ @katie_martin_fx. Launching something new is exciting and nerve-wracking, but the Unhedged pod grew far faster than any of us expected & for that I'm grateful. The pod will live on! Rob & Katie will co-host and take the show to new heights. (2/4).
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Lastly, in case you're a financial journalist looking for a job, a very cool posting just went up at the FT!. (4/4).
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@clairevtran we could just make this all articles about Asian people. "Simu Liu to star in upcoming Marvel film amid ongoing hate crimes".
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We had so, so many excellent FT reporters on the pod incl @RobinWigg @alexandrascaggs @JoeMillerJr @OrtencaAl @joshckoliver @ElaineDMoore (sorry if I've forgotten anyone!). Not to mention the @pushkinpods braintrust incl @jkhrpr Bryant Urstadt & the legend @jacobgoldstein . (3/4).
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The FT is unionizing!.
We are committed to working to make the FT a better, fairer, more equitable and stable place to work.
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FT commenter likes my skin care routine of never going outside
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From the man who brought you “Sam Bankman-Fried is not very good at League of Legends”. @Louis_Ashworth on RuneScape, the PE-backed game that taught millions of kids (me included) about bid/ask spreads, arbitrage, value chains, and getting scammed online.
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today i learned Ray Dalio is on TikTok, engaging the kids with videos like “understanding the archetypical big cycle of the rises and declines of empires”
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“There is no easy way to build large-scale factories to replace the ones in China, where we have years of history of trial and error. Vietnamese factories cannot be as good as the Chinese factories unless we send a significant number of Japanese people”.
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Why isn't the economy bothered by rates at 5% (yet)?. 1. R* is higher.2. The labor shortage is too big.3. Debt maturities have been pushed out.4. The fin system is drowning in cash.5. Services-based economies are just less volatile. w/ @rbrtrmstrng .
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contrary to popular belief, @rbrtrmstrng has not forced me into conservatorship. i just took a day off!
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This shipping cost chart from @senoj_erialc has bullwhip effect written all over it. As does this: "The fall in spot rates could also be down to shippers — that is, exporters — preferring to lock in their transportation costs for the longer term.".
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Asia has so far gained from the US-China trade war, largely b/c trade and investment got diverted to 3rd countries like Vietnam. Trump 2.0 would probably do more damage.
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bestselling game of all time: . "NFTs and other blockchain technologies create digital ownership based on scarcity and exclusion, which does not align with Minecraft values of creative inclusion and playing together.".
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@profgalloway upper-class parents are also hijacking the standardized testing system for their kids, it's a perverse system .
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The FTX fraud in a nutshell: “The judge had commented in court that robbing a bank and then playing the lottery is still a crime (even if you intend to win, pay back the bank and donate the profits).”.
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Demographic decline is a profound problem — made harder by restrictive immigration policy in Asia's richest countries. Is that changing?. Japan, Singapore, Taiwan & Korea now have more migrant workers than ever. My first story in @TheEconomist:.
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The incredible team behind the show: @jacobgoldstein @cherylbrumley @jkhrpr Bryant Urstadt & all the people at @pushkinpods.
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The CEO of this company fined by the SEC:. - Lied about his product.- Labeled a nat security threat by US govt.- Lost his work visa.- Tried, and failed, to get asylum as a Russian dissident.- Detained by immigration agencies as the FBI searched his HQ.
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Solving the crisis of masculinity, one bear-shaped sponge cake at a time
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Today in Unhedged ➡️. The weird labor market is getting weirder. A reader sends this chart showing people quitting their jobs while saying the economy is terrible. @rbrtrmstrng thinks it's all inflation's fault.
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An embrace of shareholders, the return of inflation, and the everywhere-else-is-scary trade are behind the Japan rally. But can it last?.
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“Tech companies will not want to have anything to do with owning a nuclear asset. If they do, they’ve lost their minds.”. Excellent piece by @MalcolmMoore & @leee_harris.
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"Local news is facing extinction.". That's the motivation behind a new effort by @GroupMWorldwide and @UnitedforNews to revitalize local outlets across 31 countries.
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Today in Unhedged ➡️. Does the Bank of England need a dot plot? . On this, @Claudia_Sahm and @martinwolf_ agree. Central bank credibility comes from good policy, not rigidly sticking to past statements.
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32 pages of really amazing editorial and design work, available all over campus today!! #WSHTakeover
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Today in Unhedged:. @rbrtrmstrng on what to make of Zillow failing spectacularly out of the house flipping biz 🏡. While you're here, might I mention the FT is paywall-free today? #FTfreetoday.
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I wrote about the fake BTS-themed cryptocurrency ARMY Coin trading as high as $78,000 in today's newsletter
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analyst: why should investors believe in your metaverse pivot?. Zuckerberg: trust me lol it’ll work out.
11. Most portent $META question today:. "kind of summing up how investors are feeling right now is that there are just too many experimental bets versus proven bets, some of them core and I'm curious if you can just add more color why . you feel like they pay off"
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One answer: Indonesia is disoriented by the speed of its success. Having doubled its market share in (mined and refined) nickel in four short years, it now has to recalibrate.
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Beyond excited to be working with the one and only @adam_tooze!.
New venture for Chartbook newsletter - a three-week exchange of views with the fantastic Unhedged newsletter at @FT helmed by @rbrtrmstrng and @EthanYWu .China #1 .
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Commercial real estate is creaking, without yet falling apart. But a recession would turn a contained problem into a pervasive one, and a bifurcated market into a market in crisis. w/ @rbrtrmstrng .
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My favorite part so far about moving to Singapore has been the deluge of YouTube recommendations like this
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Regardless, Trustee Nominating Committee needs to release full vote totals ASAP or risk bringing Jaewon Sim's electoral legitimacy into question.
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I wrote a deep dive into identity firm LiveRamp and the competitors looking to displace it. The TL;DR from @SaraJerde: "LiveRamp or die hard".
In a post-cookie world, LiveRamp wants to stitch together ad tech’s fragmented infrastructure. Critics say it's amassing an empire, but even as the company makes its moves, its rivals see a chance to outflank it.
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Robinhood is wildly popular with retail investors, but that relationship is more layered than it might seem. @emily_graffeo and I spoke with experts & investors in the wake of RH's volatile IPO.
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My first piece for @BusinessInsider! Recaps an excellent scoop from @irenegperez and @LCasiraghi. Deutsche Bank stands to make $1 billion on a single long-shot trade involving a distressed Israeli shipping company.
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Hard to imagine a pettier reason for doing an auto-coup. Basically declaring martial law to own the libs.
Presidential official says Yoon anticipated National Assembly would reverse his decision given the Democratic control of parliament but wanted to send a message nonetheless to lawmakers; announced martial law late at night to minimize damage to economy and people's daily lives.
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July marked the largest number of US workers on strike in one month since January 2021. Union contracts are penciling in 4%+ wage increases for years to come. Should Wall Street worry about unions? Says the AFL-CIO’s Candace Archer: “Maybe they should.”.
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Who will run Asia’s internet? . In the middle of a massive digital infrastructure build-out, China and America are competing for profits and geopolitical influence.
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One day, I also would like to run a very legal & very cool business.
Oh, I get it! I am a very good developer, happily living my life, when I see our Country going in the wrong direction (to put it mildly). Against all odds, I decide to run for President & continue to run my business-very legal & very cool, talked about it on the campaign trail. .
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.@alexandrascaggs on the legend Harry Markowitz: . “He built the mold of the quant personality. He was irreverent, open-minded, rigorous, not into the traditional hierarchies of finance”. “He was also apparently a big wine guy”.
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The oil industry is begging Wall Street to let them drill: "You need to shepherd us, not beat us into submission". via @mylesmccormick_ @justinjfj @derek_brower .
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St Louis Fed: high Covid asset prices -> wave of 55+ retirements.
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SEC: scam crypto mining company claimed an army of arbitrage robots w/ plans to expand into gold and oil . invest now! guaranteed profits!
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Inspired by Silicon Valley's Not Hotdog clip, a new app out today uses machine learning to tell you if your drink is rosé or not rosé
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More personnel news: @TheTradeDesk has promoted or hired six people into senior leadership, including Tim Sims and @MichelleHulst .
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Private tutoring is an anxiety industry. If your neighbor’s children get tutoring and yours don’t, they could fall behind. (1/4).
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JPM dipping a toe into crypto for retail clients. Great scoop from @AnitaRamaswamy.
JPMorgan just became the first big bank to give retail wealth clients access to cryptocurrency funds
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Nintendo equity strategist sounds like a dream job. Responsibilities include product testing & going deep on podcaster Nate the Hate's track record calling console releases. h/t Shunki Nakamura at Jefferies
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App maker @TeamCognitiv hopes it'll help marketers mourn the cancellation of Cannes Lions while showing off the firm's expertise.
You've heard of Hot Dog / Not Hot Dog, but what about “Rosé / Not Rosé? Russ Hanneman, from the show @SiliconValley wants you to check it out. Available now on @GooglePlay and the @appstore: #RoseNotRose #deeplearning #siliconvalley #teamcognitv
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- EVs and batteries are oversupplied globally. - Production needs a domestic demand base. But EVs are a luxury purchase in Indo. 12k were sold in 2023. Mostly cheaper LFP batteries, not nickel. - Resource access is only one factor in luring EV FDI. 2/3.
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I thought Cornell's 3 pre-finals study days weren't much, but seems Penn only gets 2 👀.
Editorial | The Daily Pennsylvanian Editorial Board argues for something a lot of us are currently wishing for, longer reading day periods.
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The US stock market is getting narrower, though perhaps not dangerously so.
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The @MktsInsider team was an absolute joy to be part of, and I'm forever grateful to @isabelletanlee, @emily_graffeo, @MWMozee, Max Adams and so many others for their mentorship and guidance.
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@JFK_America @sspiegelberger @rbrtrmstrng @FT @TheEconomist embarrassed to admit I’ve been using @Dimi’s Economist sub for the better part of 3 years.
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Apropos of nothing, a piece about how no one’s eating dog anymore .
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*opens article*.*sees this extremely uncomfy ad*.*closes article*
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would it be better if the next financial crisis was in yacht-backed securities?.
In 1955, Fred Schwed posed the question: "Where are the customers' yachts?". In 2021, Credit Suisse securitised them. I had crack at explaining how Europe's most accident-prone bank offloaded some of the risk from lending to ultra-rich oligarchs 🛥️✈️💳.
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Google is getting sued by business owners who claim it has constructed an illegal digital ad monopoly .
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the secret truth CNBC doesn’t want you to know is that hedge funds bought some stocks
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