The bank who cried wolf – Sound Economies with Mel & Peter, 20 August 2026

A blog post from the European Central Bank warns of a potential “homegrown crash” should US tech stock valuations dip, but we find this inappropriate. We also discuss how rising inflation has pushed European households to save more and spend less, Vietnam and the Philippines’ potential gains from the AI boom, and the upcoming presidential election in Brazil.

Timestamp:

(00:00) – Episode rundown
(00:22) – Intro
(00:50) – Quick updates
(02:29) – Positioning Southeast Asia in the global AI chip boom
(13:20) – A misleading blog post from ECB on a correction in US tech stocks
(23:30) – Europeans turning more closefisted
(29:00) – Brazil’s October presidential elections and growing fiscal problem
(32:15) – Our global outlook
(33:49) – Lundgreen’s Invest – High-Tech Defence Fund secures quadruple exit
(34:18) – Lundgreen’s Capital – Next big step: IPO in 2 years

“Sound Economies with Mel & Peter” is a weekly podcast where our founding CEO Peter Lundgreen and Manila-based Chief Economist for Southeast Asia and China Mel Lopez discuss what’s happening in economies around the world and their views of the global financial markets.

Tune in to this episode on Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen to podcasts.