Defending Europe without the US
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 21 February 2025
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Investors are urging the EU to make sweeping reforms to its debt securitisation market, Walmart has staged a major comeback, and Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba reported its fastest revenue growth in more than a year. Plus, the FT’s John Paul Rathbone explains how Europe could defend itself should Donald Trump pull US military assets.
Mentioned in this podcast:
Investors call for shake-up of Europe’s ‘failed’ securitisation market
How Europe can defend itself without US help
How a resurgent Walmart saw off the Amazon threat
Walmart points to ‘uncertain time’ with warning of weaker sales growth
Alibaba to ‘aggressively’ invest in AI over next three years
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The FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson, Kasia Broussalian, Ethan Plotkin, Lulu Smyth, and Marc Filippino. Additional help from Michela Tindera, Sam Giovinco, Peter Barber, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Our engineer is Joseph Salcedo. Topher Forhecz is the FT’s executive producer. The FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The show’s theme song is by Metaphor Music.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Friday, February 21st. And this is your FT News |
| 0:08.8 | briefing. EU debt markets could be in for a shake-up, and Walmart is dust in the dirt off its shoulder. |
| 0:16.0 | Plus, Donald Trump doesn't want to be responsible for defending Europe, and that's forced the EU to move quickly. |
| 0:22.7 | The alarm bell's gone off several times, and the snooze button has been pressed, but that's no longer an option. |
| 0:29.3 | I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day. |
| 0:50.2 | Thank you. investors want the European Union to revamp rules around debt securitization. Just a quick refresher, debt securitization is when things like risky corporate loans or mortgages |
| 0:55.0 | are packed up into one chunk that banks then sell off to investors. These kinds of securities are now |
| 1:01.9 | heavily regulated because of their key role in the global 2008 financial crisis. But Bond giant |
| 1:07.7 | Pimco and Italian insurer Generali told the EU that those safeguards are now strangling the market. |
| 1:14.0 | They're hoping that reforms would kickstart sectors in the EU and UK. |
| 1:18.1 | For what it's worth, Brussels is investigating ways to revive the debt market, |
| 1:22.8 | the idea being that a thriving market could attract more financing for businesses and households. |
| 1:34.5 | About a decade ago, Walmart was staring down a big threat to its dominance. |
| 1:39.7 | Amazon overtook its market capitalization and made its big box stores look outdated. |
| 1:45.1 | But now Walmart has come roaring back. |
| 1:48.4 | Here to tell us how Walmart did it is the FT's consumer editor Greg Meyer. |
| 1:52.4 | Hi, Greg. |
| 1:53.2 | Hi, Mark. |
| 1:54.5 | All right, so give us a sense of scale. |
| 1:56.2 | Just how big has Walmart's glow up been since it hit a low point a few years ago? |
| 2:02.9 | Well, Walmart has been the world's largest retailer for a long time now. |
| 2:08.0 | But about a decade ago, it was facing a very serious threat from Amazon. |
... |
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