The Business of Stuff Guide to 2025
Oh, whatever next?
Hello,
Welcome to 2025! I’m absolutely buzzing for it. There’s a lot to crack on with but it’s really critical this year to take a breath and soak it all in. We only get to do this once and it’s pretty easy to slip into hanging-on-for-dear-life mode a lot of the time. It’s easy to get caught up in the game but it seems like the only thing anyone will regret is not enjoying it.
To kick things off we’ll be taking a look at what’s going to be big on the agenda this year. Obviously ‘years’ are a made up concept and who knows what will happen but it’s nice to ponder what’s on the horizon. Obviously not as nice as looking at the actual horizon, but there’s plenty of time for that too.
Over the course of the next 12 months, alongside your weekly Sunday newsletter, we’ll be deep-diving into various themes, sectors and companies to really get to grips with what on earth is going on in the world. We’ll be kicking things off with The Business of Weight-Loss Drugs this week.
Be here now,
Hugo
Chief Presence Officer
The Business of Stuff
2025 Stuff
Construction
Building stuff is seen in most economies as a key driver of growth whether it is Keir and his “build, build, build”, Saudi Arabia regularly announcing some new Star Wars-esque project or China knocking up a 57-story skyscraper in 19 days. Lots more housing is needed globally, there are loads of nuclear plants to be constructed and hopefully countries to be rebuilt.
Volatility
It seems we are back to a 2022-type period of market volatility with silly cryptocurrencies and meme-stocks popping off all over the place. That’s not even to mention the inevitable impact of sanctions and increased M&A activity that will no doubt be part and parcel of the incoming US government’s agenda. There is plenty of lightning to ride here but The Business of Stuff doesn’t get involved in that sort of thing.
Your health
Whatever you do, look after yourself out there. Both our physical and mental health has got collectively worse since the pandemic and this shows no signs of abating. Eat good food, get some sleep, do a squat, and touch your toes. Everything else is secondary really. These bastards just want us to sit around scrolling and eating Doritos all day and it’s just not on.
American car manufacturers
It’s unlikely we’ll see a trade war in 2025 on the scale that has been suggested but it seems almost a dead cert that the US administration will be coming after European cars (the EU charges an average 10% tariff on US cars) and Chinese electric vehicles. Particularly with Musk in the picture, it seems somewhat inevitable that the US car industry will benefit. Before too long the English countryside will be awash with Teslas and Raptors. ‘Murica.
Stablecoins
Whilst much of the hype around cryptocurrency has been focussed around the rocketing price of bitcoin and pump and dump schemes (e.g. $HAWK), the bigger news is stablecoins are going mainstream. These are cryptocurrencies that are pegged to a traditional currency or asset like gold. They circumvent traditional banking and payments systems which are expensive and slow (you’ll know if you’ve heard of CHAPS), whilst avoiding the volatility of other cryptocurrencies.
Quote of the week
“It will test your head and your mind and your brain too” - Dewey Finn, The School of Rock