The first edition of Semafor Intelligence finds that global leaders see an economy defined by chokepoints.

The gap in expectations between CEOs running retailers, industrial giants, and other “real economy” companies and Wall Street financiers has grown.

Semafor built a tool that parsed 4,900 distinct claims from more than 300 Semafor World Economy speakers, every claim anchored to a specific quote in the transcripts.

Howard Lutnick spoke at Semafor World Economy months before USMCA is due for an extension.

“We look at that as disappointing on the one hand because our job is to get medicines to patients,” Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks said at Semafor World Economy.

Africa’s richest man told Semafor World Economy that the majority of African airlines “won’t be able to survive.”

Event markets would be an effective way for institutions to hedge portfolios against political risks, Jim Esposito says at Semafor World Economy.

“If you commit insider trading on Kalshi, that can and will at some point be a federal crime,” Tarek Mansour said at Semafor World Economy.

In an appearance at last week’s Semafor World Economy gathering, Maverick Carter said that changes in the tech and media landscape will allow James some flexibility in terms of his next moves once he retires — which could be as soon as later this month.

Oil producers are “leaning in,” US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Semafor World Economy.

“We also want to make sure that people and companies aren’t running afoul of information-sharing and collaboration,” Omeed Assefi said at Semafor World Economy.

Speaking at Semafor World Economy, Blanche denied saying he wanted to move on from the Epstein controversy.

Onsemi CEO Hassane El-Khoury said at Semafor World Economy that he is watching the supply disruptions from the Gulf closely, but his company is hedged through the of the year.

The bankruptcies show how “client selection has always got to be the most important thing in banking,” C.S. Venkatakrishnan told Semafor World Economy.

Speaking at Semafor World Economy, the Trump ally and outspoken AI critic also said Anthropic “had it right” in its fight with the Pentagon over the tech’s use in the military.

The head of Scale AI told Semafor World Economy that AI would not cause an employment “apocalypse” but a Democratic lawmaker warned that AI job dislocations are a “hair on fire” moment.

“It is very likely that I would vote not to authorize further hostilities,” Collins said at Semafor World Economy.

“A lot of people talk about community in the online world, but I actually don’t think they use it right,” Twitch CEO Dan Clancy said at Semafor World Economy.

“We have inadequate supply to meet this rising demand,” Calvin Butler said at Semafor World Economy.

Eurasia Group’s Ian Bremmer said at Semafor World Economy that there will be “a really rocky transition” away from US-driven globalization.

Speaking at Semafor World Economy, US Steel CEO David Burritt said he’s “never seen a transformation go better.”

Carlos Cuerpo told Semafor World Economy that Spain’s relationship with the US is one it wants to “treasure” and “protect.”

Jason Droege told Semafor World Economy that firms were “washing the layoffs” using AI for what he called ordinary “right-sizing.”

Lankford told Semafor World Economy that the Trump-backed investigation into Powell would soon wrap up.

The airline’s new “Make a Crew Member’s Day” customer survey won’t pass along negative feedback to front-line employees, Joanna Geraghty said at Semafor World Economy.

Tehran won’t give up its economic leverage, Amos Hochstein said at Semafor World Economy.

“My prediction is that we will get to an agreement,” the former US Secretary of State told Semafor World Economy.

Young said he’d patched up his relationship with Trump after not endorsing him in 2024.

“For us, it’s really more about focus,” Lynch said at Semafor World Economy after announcing the shutting down of Self magazine.

The Verizon CEO told Semafor World Economy he wants to pool funds with other business chiefs to retrain laid off workers.

Helping Americans access the care they want “will allow them to reach a higher level of success in what they want to do in their lives,” he told Semafor World Economy.

At Semafor World Economy, the Democratic lawmaker predicted 30% unemployment among new college grads in two years amid AI disruption.

“This right is not negotiable,” Gan Kim Yong said at Semafor World Economy.

The head of soccer’s governing body said at Semafor World Economy that he remains optimistic about the World Cup amid geopolitical tensions and Trump administration policies.

The supervisory board chairman of Germany’s largest bank says Europe needs to be more productive to compete with the US and China.

Executives at Semafor World Economy dismissed fears that private credit market jitters are a sign of a systemic crisis.

Swarms of such agents could create “an enormous mess” for cybersecurity, one executive said at Semafor World Economy.

“Let the people of California decide who their representatives are going to be,” Padilla told Semafor World Economy.

“I think the less politics involved in our businesses, the better,” Versant CEO Mark Lazarus said at Semafor World Economy.

“Investing into real estate and taking long-term decisions on signing large leases, people need to have visibility,” Christian Ulbrich said at Semafor World Economy.

“Let’s not let the perfect become the enemy of the good here; let’s get something done,” Sen. Pete Ricketts said at Semafor World Economy.

CEO Chuck Robbins says society is grappling with an ‘existential concern’ about the impact of AI.

“Recessionary times are the best time to stop paying rent and be your own landlord,” Vishal Garg said at Semafor World Economy.

“There is no predetermined calendar,” François Villeroy de Galhau said at Semafor World Economy.

The US market reflects the dynamism of the country’s economy, Jens Stoltenberg said at Semafor World Economy.

“It’s good hygiene to have supply-chain resiliency,” Haas told Semafor World Economy.

The head of one of the largest owners of enterprise software companies said at Semafor World Economy he’s seeing “incredible buying opportunities.”

Faster adoption at the individual level will put some countries ahead of others, Jacek Olczak said at Semafor World Economy.

“We want this to be a tool for good, not a tool for excessive behaviors,” Tarek Mansour said at Semafor World Economy.

“Overall we see a very healthy consumer,” Chime CEO Chris Britt said at Semafor World Economy.

Sean Cairncross told Semafor World Economy that he remains “very worried” about attacks from Iran amid the war.

Kelly sidestepped the question at Semafor World Economy. “At some point, I will make a decision,” he said.

Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein told Semafor World Economy that he didn’t think the venue was in bad shape after the US president criticized its condition.

Democratic leaders have been loath to lean too far into impeaching Trump.

The gas price surge will be a “temporary disruption” that will help ensure energy security, Trump ally and SBA administrator said at Semafor World Economy.

CEO José Muñoz told Semafor World Economy that he has three top priorities for Hyundai: “U.S.A.”

“If we are not careful, we’re going to be seeing a true shortfall of food outputs because of the lack of fertilizer,” the famed chef José Andrés said at Semafor World Economy.

The two banks disagreed about valuations, Commerzbank CEO Bettina Orlopp said at Semafor World Economy.

Small caps are set to “massively” outperform when valuations narrow, Rogers said at Semafor World Economy.

The Gulf region can bounce back from the Iran war, and possibly emerge stronger, business leaders said Tuesday.

The oil and gas crisis stemming from the Iran war has made energy security a central factor globally, officials and executives at Semafor World Economy said.

Leading executives at Semafor World Economy raised alarm bells over the prospects for the world economy, as the IMF cut its growth outlook for 2026.

The US “president is pulling every lever he can think of,” Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub said at Semafor World Economy.

The bank has carved out a niche by targeting businesses with annual revenues between $1 million and $100 million.

Fears of a global downturn amid a protracted conflict are overblown, US National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said at Semafor World Economy.

The private credit Saas-pocalypse is overblown, Franklin Templeton’s Jenny Johnson said at Semafor World Economy.

A future Democratic president could use tariffs in a more “thoughtful” way than the Trump administration, he told Semafor World Economy.

“Space is an emerging market. It’s a physical domain around the Earth,” Aurelia Institute CEO Ariel Ekblaw said at Semafor World Economy.

The exec steering the FTX cryptocurrency bankruptcy said at Semafor World Economy that regional banks could fail over private credit.

But such a vote probably won’t happen, Sen. Tim Sheehy said at Semafor World Economy.

“This cannot be how we operate our travel industry when we lead in innovation in the US,” Caryn Seidman Becker said at Semafor World Economy.

Ads for the automotive industry and consumer packaged goods were the worst hit, he told Semafor World Economy.

Orchestrating between AI agents and real humans will create better results and build trust, CEOs of Navan and Expedia said at Semafor World Economy.

“We want to protect our economy,” Roland Lescure said at Semafor World Economy.

“We need to build at a pace of generation and transmission that we haven’t seen in the past decade,” Bob Frenzel told Semafor World Economy.

Speaking at Semafor World Economy, Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the company aims to help its customers access sophisticated trading strategies.

Speaking at Semafor World Economy, Fatih Birol said “we are not going back to where we were” even after the Strait of Hormuz reopens.

US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could be forced to find a way out of the trade war and tensions during their planned summit next month, the former US Treasury secretary said at Semafor World Economy.

Schwartz said geopolitical events “are hard to price and they are hard to hedge,” but he remians optimistic on the economy.

Inflation impact of tariffs still unclear, Fed’s Austan Goolsbee said at Semafor World Economy.

Stagflation in Europe brought about by the Iran conflict is the “worst case scenario,” but “we’re not yet there,” Kyriakos Pierrakakis said at Semafor World Economy.

Despite facing heavy bombardment from Iran, the UAE’s biggest city has remained resilient, Dubai’s economic chief told Semafor World Economy.

There’s big money to be made, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank and FanDuel CEO Amy Howe said at Semafor World Economy.

The Iran conflict has revealed a doctrine of war focused on economic rather than strategic impact, the CEO of a supply-chain company said at Semafor World Economy.

Neuberger Berman CEO George H. Walker sees Blue Owl navigating through retail investor withdrawal requests.

Welcome to the virtual broadcast of Semafor World Economy 2026.