Worldwide Financial Planning

The attacks were condemned by allied countries on both sides, but the uncertainty has been felt in markets. Equity markets were down on Friday
morning and the dollar strengthened a little after recent weakness.

The winners are already positioning themselves, trading in their own currencies, issuing digital money, and anchoring growth to real assets. The losers are waiting for the old world to return.

In the US, more import tariffs and concerns about the rising deficit were punctuated by a very public falling out between President Donald Trump and his largest financial backer, Elon Musk. UK domestic politics saw an even greater focus on defence spending, although the pledge by Keir Starmer to increase military spending to 3% of GDP had no timescale attached.

One of the great illusions is that money is paper, or coins, or those numbers you see on your online banking app. In reality, money is code. In a post-dollar world that’s rapidly taking shape - it’s the one who controls the software, the rails, and the rules embedded in the system which has the power.

Over the past two years, that foundation has cracked, not in one dramatic collapse, but in a quiet shift which is now gathering speed. Countries are rewriting how they trade with each other. And they’re doing it without the dollar.

A threat of an almost immediate 50% tariff on European imports was pushed back following a conversation with the European Commission president over the weekend. However, this was over-shadowed by the US courts ruling that the US president had exceeded his powers by imposing sweeping tariffs on most US imports.