WSJ's Take On the Week7 Joulu 2025

Why the Fed’s Balance Sheet Matters as Much as Its Interest-Rate Decision

In this week’s episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, co-host Telis Demos is joined by WSJ markets reporter Hannah Erin Lang to discuss the return of investor optimism as the S&P 500 approaches all-time highs ahead of the FOMC’s upcoming meeting. They also analyze the next test for the AI trade: earnings from Oracle and Adobe this week. Plus, the U.S. dollar is sliding as the Federal Reserve prepares to cut rates while Japan signals hikes. The hosts discuss how this could drive capital abroad.

After the break, Telis sits with Nate Wuerffel, head of market structure and product head for the global collateral platform at BNY, to discuss the Fed’s other big decision: How large a balance sheet should it maintain? Wuerffel, a former New York Fed official, explains the mechanics of quantitative tightening and the risks of "scarce” reserves. They explore how liquidity in the "plumbing" of the financial system affects everyday consumers through higher mortgage costs and discuss the importance of a liquid Treasury market in preventing crises like 2023’s Silicon Valley Bank failure.

This is WSJ’s Take On the Week where co-hosts Gunjan Banerji, lead writer for Live Markets, and Telis Demos, Heard on the Street’s banking and money columnist, cut through the noise and dive into markets, the economy and finance—the big trades, key players and business news ahead.

Have an idea for a future guest or episode? How can we better help you take on the week? We’d love to hear from you. Email the show at takeontheweek@wsj.com.

To watch the video version of this episode, visit our WSJ Podcasts YouTube channel or the video page of WSJ.com

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How AI Spending Is Fueling the Economy Overall

In this week's episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, co-hosts Miriam Gottfried and Telis Demos dig into the shifting sentiment away from AI stocks and the pivot into consumer sectors. Are we heading into...

9 Elo 35min

Why Oil Prices Could Hit a Breaking Point by Year End

In this episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, co-host Telis Demos is joined by guest co-host and Wall Street Journal reporter David Uberti to break down the Federal Reserve’s latest moves, and what oil’s...

2 Elo 34min

The Buried $150B Bet Inside the Top 20 U.S. Stocks

In this week's episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, host Telis Demos and guest host Spencer Jakab, the Wall Street Journal’s investing columnist and writer of the Markets A.M. newsletter, are joined by ...

26 Heinä 32min

How This $150B+ Wall Street Strategy Could Lower Your Taxes

In this week's episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, co-hosts Miriam Gottfried and Telis Demos are joined by Brent Sullivan, founder of Tax Alpha Insider, to dive into a hot, over $150 billion investing ...

19 Heinä 34min

Are Corporate Earnings in a Bubble? This Quarter Is a Test

In this week's episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, co-hosts Miriam Gottfried and Telis Demos preview earnings from Taiwan’s flagship chip maker, TSMC. They also break down why this coming week’s earnin...

12 Heinä 37min

Can Hot Consumer Companies Like Oura and Whoop Make Good IPOs?

In this week's episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, co-hosts Miriam Gottfried and Telis Demos dig into this past week’s tech selloff and how the market’s volatility reflected serious questions about spe...

28 Kesä 39min

How Big Tech’s Financials Obscure the True Cost of the AI Buildout

In this week's episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, host Telis Demos and Heard on the Street columnist Jonathan Weil sit down with Kevin Koharki, principal at CAE Consulting and professor at Purdue Univ...

21 Kesä 28min

The Hidden Risks of Buying Into Mega-IPOs Like SpaceX

In this week's episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, co-hosts Miriam Gottfried and Telis Demos break down the historic launch of SpaceX, the biggest initial public offering ever, which priced at $135 a s...

14 Kesä 33min