We love financial plumbing, debt crises, balance sheets, margin calls, economic puns and snark.
Meet the team here and follow us on X @FTAlphaville
RDARR is no laughing matter
Dodgy lawyer; dodgy Davos man; AI in education; student loans; pedicabs; pop culture; multi-level marketing; and Slam
Goldman grasps the long, spiky tail of the gilts crisis
Quite the predicament
What’s the value of a crypto wrapper on a narrow bank?
And other reflections on a proposed US capital control
Weird AI ’Bankovic
Farage & Co could make a big splash at the pool party
Unpicking the first lady’s memecoin launch
Big Tech put a gloss on earnings season, but things don’t look great below the surface
Teed off
All Drizzle, no sizzle
Dollar; financial sector lending; Japan; reverse repo; buffered ETFs; Venezuela; Gen-X; ships; and an odd bird
European optimism; credit trading; DOGE; FDI; Ricardo; tariffs; bad science; old CGI; and The Barbican
Tariffs and trade deals; eggs; private credit; macro history; Ozempic; Bell Labs; and carbonated lo-fi beats
Sex! Boardroom drama! Retail!
Why April 2025 was no March 2020
PLOT TO GO!
Trillion dollar GIGO
Examining the CDS entrails
Cities; phone sex; college; university; Scott Bessent; tax rates; and Bill Gates
Shake it till it shrinks
The Bank of England’s most exciting ratesetter strikes again
Gulf clap
A 1990s vibe shift
Blood; the CIA; PCs; critical minerals; RFK; AI friends; pyramids; and wine animals
GLWT
The $2.5tn Jenmageddon
Daft Punk; Elon Musk; daydreaming; eternal life; Vikings; life insurers; buildings; and Dua Lipa
Clickbait, Alphaville-style
How the Oracle of Omaha embarrassed his own industry
Bill Gross and the chart spray
We have an alternative culprit though
TM SGNL; film tariffs; Texas; lit crit; crypto taxes; Buffett; South Korea; more Buffett
‘Trading has been hectic’
Bunkers; helplines; Tolkien; the NYC subway; interval funds; Brian Steel; neurodivergence; and archers
Asset-liability mismatches FTW