In geopolitical chaos, flexibility becomes an investment strategy
Global markets. From isolated episodes, shocks have become a structural factor directly impacting inflation, supply chains and public policies
by R.Fi.
From the new global monetary balances to the transformation of the European banking system, via energy, financial markets and technological innovation.
Against a backdrop of an international economy once again affected by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, global equity markets went through phases of high volatility, with widespread corrections on the main stock markets and a rotation of investors towards more defensive assets.
At the same time, oil prices trended upwards, buoyed by concerns about the possible impact of tensions on the supply and security of energy supplies, while gold consolidated its role as a safe haven asset, benefiting from increased risk aversion and hedging by institutional traders.
Against this backdrop, the Trento Festival of Economics, scheduled from 20 to 24 May, devotes ample space to the key issues of economic policy and finance with a series of panels bringing together economists, bankers, policymakers and protagonists from the business world.
For a long time, financial markets showed a certain difficulty in consistently pricing geopolitical risk. Each new escalation was interpreted as an isolated episode, destined to recede once the phase of tension had passed. Today, this interpretative scheme appears less and less adequate to describe reality. Geopolitical risk is no longer an episodic variable of the business cycle, but a structural feature of a more fragmented and multipolar global system.
