The Modern Investor

Anthropic’s S-1 offered investors a much clearer look at the business - and a few reasons to be uneasy.

In this week’s Market Open, Reda Farran and Russell Burns unpack the filing, from Anthropic’s growing reliance on Big Tech to some striking disclosures about how its models behave. 

They also look at SpaceX’s growing advantage in the AI infrastructure race, the squeeze on smaller data-center players, and what this week’s earnings and rate decisions could mean for markets.

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The AI trade had a rough week. And this time, the warning signs weren’t limited to stocks.

In this week’s Market Open, Reda Farran and Russell Burns look at stress in the credit market, the pressure on CoreWeave, and whether the huge sums being spent on AI can ultimately be justified. 

They also unpack why Treasuries are starting to look interesting again, and what the broader market is telling us beneath the headline index numbers.

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Rational investors are supposed to price assets correctly. But investors are people, and people are irrational – which is exactly why bubbles form, herds stampede, and markets overreact to information that doesn’t deserve it.

Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School. He started on the trading floor at Morgan Stanley before completing a PhD at MIT as a Fulbright Scholar, and has since become one of finance’s most prominent public communicators through bestselling books, free public lectures, and his mission to prove that finance doesn’t have to be dumbed down to be understood. He’s the author of Grow the Pie and May Contain Lies, and his new book, The Madness of Markets, is out this September.

He joins Carl to unpack:
Why AI valuations don’t look as extreme as the dot-com bubble on paper, and the hidden risk sitting in tech earnings anyway
The overreaction and herd behaviour that push otherwise rational investors into the same mistakes, from meme stocks to football fandom
Why some published investing strategies keep working even after everyone can read about them
The case against ESG as a single label, and why he thinks it has become “too much like a religion”
The unconventional investor Edmans rates above Warren Buffett, and the one lasting edge retail investors have over the professionals

CHAPTERS

0:00 Introduction
0:28 From the Morgan Stanley trading floor to a PhD at MIT
3:39 Why research needs to escape the ivory tower
7:15 Overreaction: the most powerful bias in investing
10:29 Herd behaviour, Reddit, and the Solomon Asch experiment
15:10 Is AI the next dot-com bubble?
18:32 Why your investment objectives change everything
20:17 Can you still profit from a strategy everyone knows about?
23:33 Prediction markets: information or noise?
27:35 Why ESG has become too much like a religion
35:19 Two tips for building a lasting investing edge
38:50 Lightning round: first, best and worst investments
43:13 The investor Alex rates above Warren Buffett
44:34 What finance can learn from writing for a general audience
51:20 Alex’s favourite market overreaction
52:50 Where to find Alex and The Madness of Markets

SpaceX is reportedly looking to raise $40 billion to help fund its AI buildout. That’s a lot of money, even by the standards of this boom.

In this week’s Market Open, Reda and Russ Burns ask how much longer markets can keep financing AI at this scale, what higher borrowing costs change, and whether Big Tech’s earnings are telling the full story. 

They also look at nuclear power, bank earnings, and what the latest inflation data could mean for the wider economy.

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Options have a reputation for being complicated and risky. But they can also be useful tools for investors looking to manage risk, generate income, or make the most of a volatile market.

In this episode, Reda Farran speaks to JJ Kinahan from CBOE Global Markets and James Kostulias from Charles Schwab about how investors are actually using options — from covered calls and puts to more complex strategies with defined risk.

They also discuss volatility, zero-day options, and where someone new to options should start.

This sessions was originally broadcast live as a webinar. Stay up to date with upcoming podcast episodes and livestreams on our website, or follow us on Instagram 

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Bill Ackman is worried about where AI could lead. He’s also still finding reasons to own some of the companies spending the most on it.

On today’s episode, Finimize CEO Carl Hazeley talks to the Pershing Square founder about AI risk, why he still sees value in Big Tech, and what he looks for in businesses he’s willing to own for years.

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Higher bond yields have been painful for existing investors. But for anyone buying today, they also mean something that’s been missing from bonds for years: a genuinely attractive starting return.

In this week’s pod, Reda and Russ look at why bonds are starting to deserve another look, how the latest round of rate hikes is changing the picture, and where Reda sees the most interesting opportunities across the market.

They also discuss the US-China summit, the risk that slowing AI spending could hit a much wider group of stocks, and why China’s long-term industrial strategy continues to matter for investors.

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Anthropic is preparing for what could become the biggest IPO in history, with a rumoured valuation of around $2 trillion. The question for investors is whether the business can actually grow into a price tag that large. 

In today's episode, we’re sharing another preview of Research Drops – investment research normally available exclusively to Finimize Pro members.

Finimize analyst Russell Burns looks at the bull case for Anthropic: its extraordinary growth, the scale of its infrastructure commitments, and why falling AI costs could end up driving more usage rather than less.  

Head to the Finimize app to hear Russell's research in full.

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Bond yields are climbing to levels not seen in decades. 

That matters well beyond the bond market – particularly when so much of the US economy is riding on an AI investment boom.

This week on Market Open, Finimize CEO Carl Hazeley joins Reda to unpack what’s driving the sell-off in government bonds, why inflation and mounting debt are making investors nervous, and how higher borrowing costs could put pressure on the AI trade.

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Nvidia just delivered another huge quarter, with revenue growth expected to accelerate next year. Yet after everything that’s happened to the stock, its valuation is starting to look surprisingly modest.

This week on Market Open, Reda and Russ digest Nvidia’s latest numbers, and discuss whether some of its biggest beneficiaries might actually be cheap.

They also turn to America’s growing debt problem. With US national debt now above $40 trillion and borrowing costs rising, why is fixing it so politically difficult?

Plus, the increasingly awkward choice facing the Fed as inflation remains stubbornly high while the labour market shows signs of weakening.

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