Moody’s Talks – The Big Picture Sarah Carlson, William Foster, Colin Ellis

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.

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.

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.

It’s a long way to global net zero emissions but some industrial efforts are getting traction. Proof-of-concept has been established in steelmaking, where hydrogen can help replace coal, and in aviation, where some planes are taking to the skies on biofuel. In this episode, we discuss the early stages of this transformation and what it will take to keep it going.

Computers are not just on your desk. They're in your phones, your cars, your microwave. Even washing machines are now computers. And the demand for the computer chips that these products use is an increasing focus not just for investors but also for governments globally. In this episode, we discuss how this intervention is impacting the big players and where the market is headed with our lead analyst for Nvidia and Intel, Raj Joshi.

The rate will likely decline to 3.6% by the end of 2024, from a 5% peak in January, as central banks begin lowering policy rates.