Bloomberg Surveillance Single Best Idea with Tom Keene: Robert Kaplan & Anna Wong
Dec 11, 2025
Robert Kaplan, former president of the Dallas Fed and current vice chairman at Goldman Sachs, shares insights on the evolving market landscape. He discusses how AI-powered companies are transforming competition and the pressure legacy firms feel to adapt. Kaplan emphasizes the importance of productivity investments for traditional businesses. Anna Wong delves into surprising labor data revisions and their implications for Federal Reserve policy, highlighting the challenges of accurately interpreting payroll figures in a volatile economic environment.
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Bigger Middle, Less Dominance
- The economy shows pockets of very large dominant firms and a larger middle that has grown but is less dominant than before.
- Robert Kaplan highlights that many mid-sized companies must scale and invest in productivity to remain competitive.
Scale And Productivity Are Defensive Moves
- Invest in size, scale, and technology to offset competitive pressure and lower dominance.
- Expect short-run margin hits and implement belt-tightening to protect profitability during transitions.
Payroll Revisions Shift The Story
- The Fed meeting produced surprising signals about the labor market and revisions to payrolls.
- Anna Wong's work on unemployment adjustments reframes recent payroll data and its implications for policy.