Moody’s Talks – The Big Picture

China has rapidly become the largest producer of electric vehicles (EV) globally, with a nearly 40% increase in sales volume last year. In this episode, Colin Ellis talks with our analyst Gerwin Ho about the drivers behind this growth, how a drive to boost scale amid intense domestic competition has prompted them to look elsewhere and the difficulties they will encounter in boosting exports and setting up overseas production.Speaker: Gerwin Ho, VP-Senior Credit Officer, Corporate Finance Group at Moody's RatingsHost: Colin Ellis, MD-Global Credit Strategist at Moody's RatingsRelated Research:Auto and Auto Parts Manufacturers – China: Chinese EV makers will broaden expansion into emerging markets amid US, EU tariffs

With macroeconomic matters moderating, geopolitics has taken center stage with conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere threatening the world order. In this episode, host Colin Ellis calls on NATO advisor and geopolitics expert Klaus Dodds to assess today’s political and environmental flash points. Dodds sees a “world full of wicked problems” and considers some pragmatic outcomes, including potential Ukrainian concessions to Russia.Speaker: Klaus Dodds, Executive Dean and Professor of Geopolitics of the School of Life Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of LondonHost:  Colin Ellis, MD-Global Credit Strategist at Moody's Ratings

We forecast growing demand for cloud services, the adoption of new AI products and cryptocurrencies will see investment in new data center capacity exceed $2 trillion globally over the next five years. But real customer demand and continued technological improvements could limit the amount of data center capacity that is actually needed over the longer term. In this episode, John Medina explains what risks this uncertainty poses to investors in the corporate credit, leveraged loan, bank, CMBS, ABS, private credit and project finance markets.Speaker: John Medina, Senior Vice President at Moody's RatingsHost: Colin Ellis, MD-Global Credit Strategist at Moody's RatingsRelated Research:Data Centers – Global: Rapid capacity growth to serve surging computing demand poses long-term risks 

On 7 July, France held the second and final round of legislative elections, which produced a shock upset for Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National party after strong first round. But with no clear path to a majority and France’s inexperience with broad political coalitions, the country now faces an uncertain political future. Sarah Carlson discusses what this could mean for the French sovereign rating and the rest of Europe.Speaker: Sarah Carlson, Senior Vice President at Moody's RatingsHost: William Foster, Senior Vice President at Moody's RatingsRelated Research:Government of France: FAQ on hung parliament following National Assembly elections

The digital transformation of the global economy offers big opportunities for companies and governments but also increases their exposure to private and state-backed cyberattacks. In this episode, we talk about the recent rise in these attacks, how new advances like Gen AI are making them more sophisticated, their effects on our assessment of credit risk, and the strategies companies are adopting to protect themselves.Speaker: Leroy Terrelonge, VP-Analyst/Cyber Credit Risk at Moody's RatingsHost: William Foster, Senior Vice President at Moody's Ratings

The lead analyst for the UK sovereign rating, Evan Wohlmann, joins Colin Ellis to discuss the potential outcomes, policy changes, and the role of Brexit and immigration in shaping the sovereign’s future rating trajectory.Speaker: Evan Wohlmann, VP-Sr Credit Officer at Moody's RatingsHost: Colin Ellis, MD-Global Credit Strategist at Moody's RatingsRelated Research:Government Policy – UK: New government could boost growth, but faces fiscal and institutional hurdles 

Last week, President Biden announced that the US will increase tariffs on $18 billion of imports from China in sectors like electric vehicles, semiconductors and solar panels. In this episode, we review the implications of these measures on the US and Chinese economies, the individual sectors we rate, and for the future of US-China trade ties.Speakers: Dima Cvetkova, Analyst/CSR at Moody's Ratings, Elena Duggar, MD-Credit Strategy at Moody's RatingsHost: William Foster, Senior Vice President at Moody's Ratings

The world of finance is always changing. There’s always a new kid on the block, and one of the fastest growing asset classes in recent years is this thing called private credit. But what exactly is private credit and what kind of risks does it pose? That’s the topic we will be discussing today with Christina Padgett, an associate managing director in our Corporate Finance Group. Speaker: Christina Padgett, Associate Managing Director at Moody's RatingsHost: Colin Ellis, MD-Global Credit Strategist at Moody's Ratings

Following updates in the first quarter of this year, positive outlooks now outnumber the negative ones we assign to industry sectors globally. In this episode, we speak to Edmond DeForest about the drivers behinds these recent improvements despite the challenges facing the global economy and our expectations for business conditions in the next 12 to 18 months.Speaker: Edmond DeForest, Senior Vice President at Moody's RatingsHost: Colin Ellis, MD-Global Credit Strategist at Moody's Ratings

The tone has shifted since the meetings last year to cautious optimism about a soft landing for the global economy. But stubborn inflation, budget constraints and geopolitics present growing concerns, particularly in light of recent events in the Middle East. In this episode, we sit down with Marie Diron and Sarah Carlson from the sovereign team to discuss what this means for the future direction of sovereign ratings.Speakers: Marie Diron, MD-Global Sovereign Risk at Moody's Ratings; Sarah Carlson, Senior Vice President at Moody's RatingsHost: William Foster, Senior Vice President at Moody's Ratings