Major economic institutions worth monitoring in 2025, including Trump’s friend companies economy

The British Financial Times newspaper published a lengthy report in which a number of its correspondents discussed business trends in the new year and the changes expected to occur in them, especially with regard to the rise of “sovereign” artificial intelligence, the prospects for electric car sales, and whether the “ultra-rich” in the world will invest savings. pension for people.

Technology

In the field of technology, the newspaper expected that in 2025, generative artificial intelligence will move to the next stage of digital transformation and thus become widespread and widely available, as more countries and companies look forward to controlling its technologies and associated data that they consider to be of strategic importance.

Many countries have already begun developing supercomputers and artificial intelligence models, driven by the desire to protect their economic and national security.

The newspaper suggests that companies will devote more of their resources to training their own models using proprietary data, expanding the scope of control over generative artificial intelligence in 2025.

One of the companies whose development must be followed in the new year is “XAI”. When the American billionaire Elon Musk was busy acquiring the X platform (formerly Twitter) when launching the “GBT Chat” application, the rapidly moving train of generative artificial intelligence almost missed it, but he He was able to catch up with him and make up for what he lost by establishing his startup company, “XAI”, and raising $12 billion for it.

Musk was able to attract the best engineers and turn his company into a competitor overnight, as its value had already reached $50 billion.

Now, thanks to his close relationship with President-elect Donald Trump and his personal participation in an initiative to reshape the US government, XAI could be in a good position to play a pivotal role in the new US administration, according to the newspaper.

Although it is difficult to judge exactly when the technical boom will turn into a bubble or predict when it will end, the British newspaper believes that there is general agreement in the world of technology that it will take years before most companies and governments – which are the largest buyers of technology – figure out how to use artificial intelligence. generation profitably and integrate it into their daily operations.

But what are the biggest surprises expected? A question posed by the newspaper and answered by Andrew Ferguson – who was chosen by Trump for the position of Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission – saying that he believes that the merger of companies with each other is a legitimate way to continue to reshape industrial structures, and that he does not want to regulate artificial intelligence.

Regarding private capital, Richard Waters, a Financial Times correspondent in San Diego County, California, reported that giant private capital companies – such as “Blackstone”, “KKR”, and “Apollo Global” – continued to invest money from sovereign wealth funds. .

Waters believes that a new area for these “ultra-rich” companies is to do the same job for a very different customer base: retirees and individual investors.

According to the reporter, Trump’s re-election should provide these companies with an opportunity to take advantage of the easing of government restrictions on the US investment market, which is worth $40 trillion.

One institution to watch for development is Chicago-based spare parts supplier Medline Industries, a family business that was little known when Blackstone, Carlyle, Hellman and Friedman acquired a controlling stake in Its shares are worth $34 billion.

Artificial intelligence may be the magic solution to some monotonous and boring jobs in the financial sector, which require delving into a huge amount of data and legislation.

But this same AI may also have caused challenges for the hottest sector in corporate buyouts over the past decade.

Waters notes that Trump’s return has caused noticeable optimism on the Wall Street Stock Exchange in New York, citing what he called “deal makers” saying that there is an increase in acquisition activity and they expect a wave of deregulation.

But he believes that factors such as tariffs and the deportation of low-wage migrant workers in the current law-bound economy may spoil this optimism.

Cars

In the automotive sector, the newspaper’s New York correspondent, Antoine Gara, says that automakers around the world are under pressure in 2024 as the growth of electric car sales slows.

Garra credits some industry executives with saying that the introduction of electric cars on the market has been deliberately postponed pending the entry into force of stricter gas emission laws in Europe in 2025.

The company to watch in the new year is Tesla, whose shares have risen by approximately 70% since Trump won the US elections, with the hope that the company will benefit from the fact that its CEO (Elon Musk) is one of the most influential advisors to the president-elect.

However, regardless of investors’ hopes, Gara warns that there is less certainty about what those benefits will be, as California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has indicated that Tesla may miss the opportunity to obtain lucrative tax breaks that the state is considering for electric cars.

Moreover, it is unlikely that Tesla will avoid the effects of the high tariffs that Trump threatened to impose on his country’s imports of goods.

Musk also shifted some of his attention from electric cars to self-driving and artificial intelligence, according to the reporter.

However, the biggest risk to the industry – from Gara’s point of view – lies in the possibility of further disruption to supply chains if smaller spare parts suppliers go bankrupt due to the slowdown in car sales.

Luxury goods

In the field of luxury goods, the newspaper’s correspondent in London, Kana Inagaki, reports that attention is turning to China, which she describes as the engine of growth of this industry, and a country whose economy has suffered since the end of the Corona (Covid-19) pandemic.

A recovery in the Chinese economy, either due to an improvement in its real estate market or in response to government stimulus, will – in the correspondent’s opinion – be a source of great relief to worried executives in the luxury goods industry, but it is not a guaranteed recovery at all.

According to Inakagi, researchers at the management consulting firm Bain & Company, headquartered in Boston, expect that personal luxury goods in 2025 will witness the first slowdown since the 2008 financial crisis, with the exception of an early decline when the “Covid-19” pandemic first struck in 2020.

One company whose performance can be followed in the new year is Kering, which lagged behind its major counterparts in the field of luxury goods, as its largest brand, Gucci, deteriorated.

The biggest danger facing this industry lies in Trump, who the reporter says will overshadow everything, exacerbating the state of uncertainty.

The biggest risks brought by his return are the tariffs he will impose – especially on China – and the trade wars he will ignite.

Renewable energy

Financial Times correspondent in Paris, Adrian Klassa, touched on the issue of renewable energy, as a number of renewable energy groups decided that private ownership was the best option as investor enthusiasm in this sector faded.

Among the groups that intend to withdraw from the Nasdaq Stock Exchange is Renew, whose share price recorded a disappointing performance.

One of the companies that the reporter believes is worth following in the new year is the German company RWE.

The biggest danger to this industry is that Trump’s return to the White House heralds an end to offshore wind energy in the United States and elsewhere, in fulfillment of a promise he made during his election campaign.

Among his promises also is that he will stop paying subsidies for green energy projects established under the inflation reduction law, and his team also said that he will withdraw the United States from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, as he did during his first term as president.