The big picture was in focus at a recent Singapore Exchange (SGX Group) dinner discussion in New York.

The Feb. 22 event included a keynote address and a panel discussion, covering global macro trends, critical market issues, and outlook for the US presidential election in November.

SGX’s Global Head of FX and Rates, KC Lam, was one of the hosts of the roundtable, kicking off the session with a discussion of the exchange’s Asia product suite across equities, currencies and commodities. Amid turbulent interest rates, inflation and geopolitical risks, there has been increased hedging across SGX’s major Asian currency pairs as yield differentials widened. Activity was particularly pronounced for SGX USD/CNH Futures, which has leapfrogged to become the third most-traded listed FX contract globally.

David Woo, CEO of David Woo Unbound, an independent global macro strategy boutique that focuses on the intersection of economics, politics, and geopolitics, presented keynote remarks virtually.

Formerly a Wall Street strategist and International Monetary Fund economist, Woo observed the macro landscape has mostly been two or three good years to one bad year over the course of his 25+ year career, but lately that has been closer to one bad year for every good year. “Macro challenges are becoming more complex,” he said.

Woo relayed an anecdote where a Wharton School professor recently pitted MBA students against ChatGPT in a competition to develop commercially viable products that could be marketed to students for $50 or less. ChatGPT had 35 of the 40 top products as picked by product evaluators.

“Generative AI is huge,” Woo said. “It’s the bigge...