--- title: Slow food for thought | Charles-Henry Monchau, CFA, CMT, CAIA (4) description: Chief Investment Officer (4) --- [![Syz Private banking](https://blog.syzgroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Logo.png?width=140&name=Logo.png "Syz Private banking")](https://www.syzgroup.com/fr) ## **Thinking** out loud [Subscribe](https://25733253.hs-sites-eu1.com/newsletter-signup?hsLang=en) [![Contact Us](https://hubspot-no-cache-eu1-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/default/25733253/3d762f49-4e71-4f99-97b1-bf6781ef3da2.png)](https://hubspot-cta-redirect-eu1-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/redirect/25733253/3d762f49-4e71-4f99-97b1-bf6781ef3da2) - [OUR SERVICES](https://www.syzgroup.com/en/private-banking) - [ABOUT SYZ](https://www.syzgroup.com/en/about/welcome-to-syz) - [CAREERS](https://www.syzgroup.com/en/careers) - [PRESS](https://www.syzgroup.com/en/news) - [Blog Homepage](https://blog.syzgroup.com) - [Slow Food for Thought](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought) - [Focus](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thoughts/tag/focus) - [Asset allocations Insights](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thoughts/tag/asset-allocation-insights) - [Market Outlook](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thoughts/tag/market-outlook) - [Swiss Perspectives](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thoughts/tag/swiss-perspectives) - [Syz the moment](https://blog.syzgroup.com/syz-the-moment) - [Crypto corner](https://blog.syzgroup.com/crypto-corner) - [Syz AI Insights](https://blog.syzgroup.com/syz-ai-insights) - [Fast Food for Thought](https://blog.syzgroup.com/fast-food-for-thought) - [The week in seven charts](https://blog.syzgroup.com/fast-food-for-thoughts/tag/the-week-in-seven-charts) - [Flash](https://blog.syzgroup.com/fast-food-for-thoughts/tag/flash) - [Fixed Income Weekly](https://blog.syzgroup.com/fast-food-for-thought/tag/weekly-fixed-income) - [Equity Weekly](https://blog.syzgroup.com/fast-food-for-thought/tag/weekly-equities) - [Global markets outlook](https://blog.syzgroup.com/fast-food-for-thoughts/tag/global-markets-outlook) - [CONTACT](https://www.syzgroup.com/en/contact-us/form) - [ENGLISH](https://www.syzgroup.com/) - [FRANÇAIS](https://www.syzgroup.com/fr) - [Slow Food for Thought](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought) - [Focus](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thoughts/tag/focus) - [Asset allocations Insights](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thoughts/tag/asset-allocation-insights) - [Market Outlook](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thoughts/tag/market-outlook) - [Swiss Perspectives](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thoughts/tag/swiss-perspectives) - [Fast Food for Thought](https://blog.syzgroup.com/fast-food-for-thought) - [Flash](https://blog.syzgroup.com/fast-food-for-thoughts/tag/flash) - [Weekly Fixed Income](https://blog.syzgroup.com/fast-food-for-thought/tag/weekly-fixed-income) - [The week in seven charts](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thoughts/tag/the-week-in-seven-charts) - [Global markets outlook](https://blog.syzgroup.com/fast-food-for-thoughts/tag/global-markets-outlook) - [Weekly Equities](https://blog.syzgroup.com/fast-food-for-thought/tag/weekly-equities) - [Syz the moment](https://blog.syzgroup.com/syz-the-moment) - [Crypto corner](https://blog.syzgroup.com/crypto-corner) - [Syz AI Insights](https://blog.syzgroup.com/syz-ai-insights) - [Our Services](https://www.syzgroup.com/en/private-banking) - [About Syz](https://www.syzgroup.com/en/about/welcome-to-syz) - [Careers](https://www.syzgroup.com/en/careers) - [Press](https://www.syzgroup.com/en/news) - [Contact](https://www.syzgroup.com/en/contact-us/form) - [English](https://www.syzgroup.com/) - [Français](https://www.syzgroup.com/fr) ## **Sign-up** for our newsletter This website uses cookies to enhance user navigation and to collect statistical data. 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Bank Syz Ltd. accepts no liability for any loss arising from the use of this document. ## **Slow food** for thought Insights and research on global events shaping the markets - [All](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought) - [Focus](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/tag/focus) - [Asset Allocation Insights](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/tag/asset-allocation-insights) - [Market Outlook](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/tag/market-outlook) [Focus](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/tag/focus) #### [The “super employee”](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/the-super-employee) Somewhere right now, an employee is producing what once required an entire team. The difference comes from the tools and systems now embedded in the workflow. As processes become faster and simpler, fewer layers are needed within the company. This evolution is quietly becoming one of the most significant organisational changes of the decade. Many companies are only starting to realise it. **[Charles-Henry Monchau, CFA, CMT, CAIA](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/author/charles-henry-monchau)** | 21/04/2026 [Focus](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/tag/focus) #### [Gold coming home](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/gold-coming-home) One by one, quietly and without announcement, the world's central banks are pulling their gold home. From New Delhi to Belgrade, from Frankfurt to Paris, the same strategic decision is being reached independently. The trust that underpinned the postwar reserve system for decades is showing its first serious fractures. **[Charles-Henry Monchau, CFA, CMT, CAIA](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/author/charles-henry-monchau)** | 14/04/2026 [Focus](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/tag/focus) #### [The next black swan?](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/the-next-black-swan) Think The Big Short but for AI, JPMorgan just launched the AI Hyperscaler Credit Default Swaps Basket, a one-click trade to short the debt of Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Oracle. As these tech giants ramp up borrowing to finance massive data center buildouts, Wall Street is effectively offering the same instrument Michael Burry used in 2008 to bet against credit risk. **[Charles-Henry Monchau, CFA, CMT, CAIA](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/author/charles-henry-monchau)** | 08/04/2026 [Focus](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/tag/focus) #### [The ripple effect](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/the-ripple-effect) The Strait of Hormuz turns a regional tension into a global energy crisis. A single chokepoint can move oil, freight, and investor sentiment in the same day. A problem that starts locally can quickly ripple across financial markets and global geopolitics. That is why the Strait of Hormuz matters far beyond the Gulf. **[Charles-Henry Monchau, CFA, CMT, CAIA](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/author/charles-henry-monchau)** | 02/04/2026 [Focus](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/tag/focus) #### [The search for a new reserve north star](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/the-search-for-a-new-reserve-north-star) “Risk free” used to be a number on a government bond curve, today it is also a judgment about politics, sanctions and access. When a G20 central bank can see its reserves frozen overnight and an energy shock can move gold, US Treasuries and Chinese bonds in three different directions, the old definition of safety no longer fits. **[Charles-Henry Monchau, CFA, CMT, CAIA](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/author/charles-henry-monchau)** | 31/03/2026 [Focus](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/tag/focus) #### [The balloon explosion nobody saw coming](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/the-balloon-explosion-nobody-saw-coming) The world's most advanced technology depends on one of the universe's simplest elements, a noble gas so abundant in the universe that it ranks as the second most common element: helium. Essential for AI chips, GPUs, and semiconductors, its market is now tightening as the Iran conflict begins to disrupt global supply. **[Charles-Henry Monchau, CFA, CMT, CAIA](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/author/charles-henry-monchau)** | 24/03/2026 [Focus](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/tag/focus) #### [The last human trade](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/the-last-human-trade) AI agents already manage your inbox, schedule meetings, and draft reports. The next frontier? Trading autonomously, in real time, at a scale no human desk can match. Right now, an algorithm is reading macro signals, analysing sentiment, and executing positions before an analyst finishes their coffee. In modern algorithmic trading, the edge no longer lies in human instinct, it lies in systems that act before the market catches up. **[Charles-Henry Monchau, CFA, CMT, CAIA](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/author/charles-henry-monchau)** | 17/03/2026 [Focus](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/tag/focus) #### [Not the 1970s: why the oil shock is not a stagflation replay — and what it actually signals](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/not-the-1970s-why-the-oil-shock-is-not-a-stagflation-replay-and-what-it-actually-signals) The surge in oil prices following US-Iran tensions has revived fears of stagflation. Those fears are misplaced. What markets may actually be pricing is a structural regime shift — from paper assets to real ones. **[Charles-Henry Monchau, CFA, CMT, CAIA](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/author/charles-henry-monchau)** | 12/03/2026 [Focus](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/tag/focus) #### [Ethereum and the quantum challenge](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/ethereum-and-the-quantum-challenge) “Q-Day”, which is the day quantum computers become capable of breaking current cryptographic standards, could make even the most secure digital systems vulnerable. The Bitcoin community has been debating the threat for over a year, while Ethereum’s community appears to be taking its first cautious steps in 2026. **[Charles-Henry Monchau, CFA, CMT, CAIA](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/author/charles-henry-monchau)** | 10/03/2026 [Focus](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/tag/focus) #### [When AI is too successful: the worrying scenario of “phantom GDP”](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/when-ai-is-too-successful-the-worrying-scenario-of-phantom-gdp) Imagine an economy that keeps growing, companies making record profits, and markets hitting new highs, yet millions of skilled workers struggle to find jobs. AI now handles tasks that humans used to do, faster and cheaper than any employee. Productivity rises, but wages and household income lag. Growth is happening, but people are being left out. How will society adapt when success no longer depends on human work? **[Charles-Henry Monchau, CFA, CMT, CAIA](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/author/charles-henry-monchau)** | 03/03/2026 [❮](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/author/charles-henry-monchau/page/3) [2](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/author/charles-henry-monchau/page/2) [3](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/author/charles-henry-monchau/page/3) [4](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/author/charles-henry-monchau/page/4) [5](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/author/charles-henry-monchau/page/5) [6](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/author/charles-henry-monchau/page/6) [❯](https://blog.syzgroup.com/slow-food-for-thought/author/charles-henry-monchau/page/5) ## Straight from the Desk # Syz the moment Live feeds, charts, breaking stories, all day long. 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