Adam Smith introduced his concept of the "invisible hand" in the 18th century, offering a metaphor for how self-interest and competition guide a free-market economy. The case could be made that government policy is an increasingly crucial force in shaping markets today, particularly amid heightened geoeconomic competition and a resurgence in industrial policy. In this way, individuals and entities in both the private and public sectors can be "marketcrafters."

PGIM's Daleep Singh is joined by Chris Hughes (Facebook co-founder, Chair of the Economic Security Project, and author of "Marketcrafters: The 100-Year Struggle to Shape the American Economy") for a discussion about government policy's role in driving markets and investment outcomes. They cover topics including:

• How the U.S. government has shaped markets through history
• Marketcrafting agendas that could address inflation and cost of living challenges
• An industrial policy framework targeting housing affordability and emerging solutions like modular homes
• The AI investment cycle and potential policy levers
• The Federal Reserve's influence on financial markets through its ample reserves regime

The AI-driven capex cycle might be the biggest investment story of the past century. The five largest hyperscalers were on track to spend around $800 billion on AI infrastructure in 2025, and as a share of U.S. GDP, AI capex has already eclipsed the dot-com boom of the 1990s. Chips are at the center of the AI frenzy – the same chips that also guide precision munitions and power satellite communications. In pursuit of a strategic advantage, nations are racing to shore up critical supply chains and achieve dominance in the economic arena. How will industrial policy's reemergence influence investment opportunities and global capital flows?

For a closer examination of industrial policy's risks and rewards, PGIM's Daleep Singh talks to Mike Schmidt, Distinguished Visitor at Princeton University's Griswold Center for Economic Policy and former Director of the CHIPS Program Office (CPO) at the U.S. Department of Commerce. The discussion covers topics including:

• A framework for employing industrial policy effectively
• Economic resilience and strategic dominance
• Opportunities and challenges in ramping up U.S. chip production
• Recent industrial policy actions and their market impact
• How to prepare supply chains to withstand geopolitical weaponization or unexpected shocks

In an era of AI, data centers and electrification, rising power demand presents a range of challenges and investment opportunities across the energy sector. Bottlenecks in the supply chain, such as the backlog in gas turbine production, have grabbed headlines while the power-hungry digital infrastructure buildout lifts energy consumption. With the grid increasingly strained, commercial-grade fusion power is one innovative solution emerging in a rapidly evolving energy landscape.

PGIM's Daleep Singh visits Commonwealth Fusion Systems CEO Bob Mumgaard for a conversation inside the facility that houses SPARC, the company's prototype for what could be the first commercially produced machine that generates net energy from fusion. This milestone – expected in 2027 – would be significant, paving the way for the first generation of fusion power plants. Like geothermal energy and small modular reactors, commercially viable fusion power could make the national grid better equipped to meet forecasts for intense electricity demand – using dispatchable, zero-carbon power that could be more resilient through periods of geopolitical strife. Institutional investors will continue to play a role in deploying the long-term capital needed to scale new technologies, expand the power grid, and fortify energy supply chains.

Listen for an inside look at the future of fusion power. This episode explores:

• CFS's plans to establish the first ARC plant in the early 2030s – and its ambitions to build thousands more
• The engineering and capital hurdles to create grid-scale fusion power plants
• Industrial policy actions and public-private partnerships that could accelerate the fusion buildout
• Why fusion energy's supply chain is less vulnerable to geopolitical chokepoints than traditional fuel sources

The arrival of Kevin Warsh as Chair of the Federal Reserve marked a regime shift. At its June meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) dropped its easing bias, opening the door to interest rate hikes as supply shocks collide with hotter demand. The Fed also announced five new task forces to evaluate key priorities, from inflation frameworks to AI's impact on productivity and the labor market. Under Warsh, the central bank sent an unmistakable message: This is just the opening act for a very different Fed.

James Bullard, former President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and current Dean of the Mitch Daniels School of Business at Purdue University, joins PGIM's Daleep Singh to analyze the start of the Warsh era at the Fed. They discuss policy challenges from inflation's resurgence, the case for lower rates over the long run, and potential market implications if the Fed changes how it conducts monetary policy.

The conversation also covers:

• The Fed's reaction function amid policy shifts and economic transformation
• Emerging similarities to the Fed's Greenspan era
• How changes to Fed communications and forward guidance could influence markets
• Economic outcomes from the AI boom – and why fears of job destruction might be overblown

The military concept of escalation dominance posits that the side controlling the pace and pain of a conflict determines the outcome. For most of the Cold War era, the U.S. had escalation dominance—militarily, technologically, and economically—but the use of economic statecraft was limited. That era is over. As great power competition intensifies, the relationship between the U.S. and China offers a view into where competition is headed and what it means for global stability. While the U.S.-China summit resulted in an effective truce, there are deeper takeaways that investors and other observers should consider.

PGIM's Daleep Singh welcomes Julian Gewirtz, former Senior Director for China and Taiwan Affairs at the National Security Council, to discuss the U.S.-China stalemate and the economic long game. The conversation covers topics including:

• Geopolitical and economic takeaways from the summit
• China's efforts to buy time—and potential U.S. policy responses
• Technological competition, including AI, chips and related minerals
• Strategies aimed at achieving AI superiority in pursuit of national interests

Global conflicts are increasingly playing out in the economic arena, not just on the battlefield. The war in Iran represents a collision of both. Physical and financial chokepoints can be used for strategic leverage; they also raise potential vulnerabilities. To unpack how and why economic warfare is reshaping the macro landscape, Daleep Singh speaks with Edward Fishman, author of "Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare" and Senior Fellow and Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomics at the Council on Foreign Relations.

The discussion explores how investors can evaluate resilience to economic vulnerabilities, the future of economic statecraft amid heightened geopolitical competition, and chokepoints that investors should be watching in the future.

Marc Sumerlin, Managing Partner at Evenflow Macro and former Deputy Director of the White House National Economic Council under President George W. Bush, joins Daleep Singh for a conversation about economic transformation on this episode of PGIM's The Outthinking Investor.

Daleep and Marc talk about macro shocks stemming from the Iran war, how U.S. budget deficits will influence policy rates and the economy, and the relationship between monetary and fiscal authorities in a new age of economic competition.

The discussion also covers:

• The impact of tariffs and AI on the labor market
• Monetary policy challenges when navigating an energy shock
• The future of the U.S.-China trade relationship

Daleep welcomed Kurt for an in-depth look at the U.S.-China relationship and the Iran war's implications for Asia-Pacific. Speaking in front of a live audience, they also discussed how geopolitical shifts are reshaping economies, strategic leverage lurking in critical supply chains, and the outlook for Japan.

Daleep Singh catches up with Brad Setser, Whitney Shepardson senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former senior adviser to the U.S. Trade Representative, to gather his perspectives on how entrenched imbalances are translating into strategic leverage between economic powers. They explore the world's financial plumbing, changes in trade and capital flows, and the implications for global markets.

In this episode, Daleep and Brad also discuss:

• Why the world may be re-globalizing rather than deglobalizing

• China's export-driven economy

• The interplay between global trade and currency markets

• The future of U.S. trade in North America and Europe

• The outlook in Japan

Daleep Singh welcomes Jake Sullivan, the Kissinger Professor of the Practice of Statecraft and World Order at the Harvard Kennedy School and former U.S. National Security Advisor, for a conversation about the forces reshaping global power and what they mean for markets and investment strategy.

In this episode, Daleep and Jake discuss:

• Whether the world is moving toward regional spheres of influence;
• How technology is becoming the new battleground for great power competition;
• The interplay between national security, American statecraft, and the global economy;
• And how U.S. policy choices could impact economic strength and capital flows.