UBS On-Air: Market Moves

Tune in to hear from top portfolio managers and business heads from UBS Asset Management’s Muni, Taxable Fixed Income and Liquidity teams, as they share their views on markets and what they believe you should be focused on within the fixed income space.

US President Trump’s social media post suggests a deal has been done with India to reduce the tariffs paid by US importers (from 35% to 18%, with special tariffs relating to Russian oil purchases set to zero). The move will have little effect on the US affordability crisis—Indian imports are less than 3% of the US total. While tariff increases are readily passed to consumers, tariff reductions (strangely) are less likely to be passed through.

Tune in at the start of the trading week ahead of the New York opening bell as Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, CIO Americas and Head of Global Equities for UBS Wealth Management, briefs you on what’s the signal, and what’s just noise in the markets. Recorded on 2 February 2026.

The sharp decline in gold and silver prices has relatively little economic significance. While attempts will be made to spin this as a reaction to fundamental economics, it seems more likely that the “fear of missing out” trade became exhausted. The run-up in prices was over too short a period to have created major wealth effects, so correcting to a price more in line with economic fundamentals would be regarded as an economic positive (avoiding a misallocation of resources).

There is widespread speculation that US President Trump will nominate former Fed Governor Warsh as next Fed chair. They need Senate confirmation, which may take time. Warsh’s time as governor was not, perhaps, notable—what policy bias there was tended to the hawkish. Now Warsh seems to believe AI will be disinflationary (technology is often more about relative price changes than inflation or disinflation).

In the midst of a busy travel week, spanning London, Lisbon, Berlin, Munich and Geneva, Burkhard stops by to share his boots-on-the-ground observations on factors driving economic and market activity. Plus, a look at how these observations rhyme with technology and U.S. exceptionalism (as drivers of the “Roaring Twenties” narrative).

Frank Sileo, Senior Fixed Income Strategist Americas, rejoins the podcast for a performance update and outlook for the preferred securities sector. We also spend time reviewing positioning considerations within the asset class and provide a “preferred securities investing 101”. Host: Daniel Cassidy

The Federal Reserve obviously left rates unchanged, but the tenor of the meeting seems to have been a little more hawkish. Resilient economic growth has reduced the urgency for a rate cut. A cut is still likely at some point this year, not to act as a stimulus but to ensure against downside risk (were labor market fears to start to weigh on the consumer).

Our first episode of the year features Marc Lipschultz, Co-CEO of Blue Owl Capital, and Jason Draho, UBS CIO Head of Asset Allocation Americas. Marc and Jason exchange thoughts on how AI infrastructure and data center investments are being financed, along with how investors should think about AI-bubble risk. Plus, thoughts on the macroeconomic environment, overall investment risks, and where opportunities exist across private markets and private credit. Host: Daniel Cassidy

A unanimous 92 out of 92 surveyed economists expect no change in US interest rates today. That many economists could never be wrong. An insurance rate cut may be necessary, to keep fear of unemployment low and allow US consumers to continue cutting savings rates to pay for tariffs. An insurance cut is not urgent, however.