Financial markets remained chaotic and volatile in the June quarter of 2025, dominated by a sharp global market correction after the U.S. announced sweeping tariffs in early April – oddly termed by President Trump ‘Liberation Day’. These trade policy pronouncements escalated U.S. tensions with China and the European Union.

2024 proved to be surprisingly robust for global financial markets, driven by better-than-expected economic activity, particularly in the United States, momentous growth in machine learning and associated technologies and a corresponding spike in the share prices of the major industry participants.

Recently I have been expressing some concern about the fraying of the global social and economic fabric, this evident in social unrest, political instability, disrespect of authority, wars and crises and large and unpredictable swings in political outcomes.