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Alexis Stenfors

Senior Lecturer in Economics and Finance, University of Portsmouth

I have been a Senior Lecturer at Portsmouth Business School since January 2014 and work within the Economics and Finance subject group. I have 15 years of experience from the foreign exchange and interest rate derivatives markets, having been a trader at HSBC, Citi, Crédit Agricole and Merrill Lynch. In 2009, I returned to academia to do research on the LIBOR and completed my doctoral thesis with the title ‘Determining the LIBOR: A Study of Power and Deception’ in 2013. I have also held teaching positions at SOAS (University of London) and Olin Business School (Washington University in St. Louis). My recent research on benchmark manipulation has been published in journals such as the Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money and the Review of Political Economy. I am also the author of ‘Barometer of Fear: An Insider’s Account of Rogue Trading and the Greatest Banking Scandal in History’ (London: Zed Books, May 2017).

Why Japanese yen is still one of the safest places to park your money in a market crash

Mar 16, 2020 06:42 am UTC| Investing

Fear is contagious not least in financial markets. When it turns to panic, it spreads fast in todays interconnected and technologically advanced trading world. Assets that are associated with some kind of risk fall in...

'The day the world changed' – a former trader on how the credit crunch kicked off

Aug 07, 2017 15:39 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy

When I received a phone call from a trader colleague at Merrill Lynch on August 9 2007, I was in the middle of chopping wood in the Swedish countryside. As always, I had my mobile on me in case of an emergency. I...

The scandal might be over but LIBOR ethics remain fundamentally flawed

May 13, 2017 03:30 am UTC| Insights & Views Law

When I was a trader at HSBC, Citibank, Crédit Agricole and Merrill Lynch, being able to accurately predict the the London Interbank Offered Rate (or LIBOR) each day was a central part of my job. It was, and still...

Economy

Chip Stocks Rally as Samsung and SK Hynix’s $1.3 Trillion Investment Plan Boosts AI Optimism

Chip-equipment stocks surged on Tuesday after reports that South Koreas semiconductor leaders, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, plan to invest up to $1.3 trillion in new semiconductor manufacturing projects, reinforcing...

U.S. Stocks End Q2 Higher as Strong Jobs Data and AI Rally Lift Wall Street

U.S. stock markets closed higher on Tuesday, wrapping up the second quarter and the first half of 2026 with solid gains as investors welcomed stronger-than-expected labor market data and a continued rebound in technology...

Wall Street Futures Rise Ahead of JOLTS Data, Nike Earnings, and U.S.-Iran Talks

U.S. stock futures moved modestly higher on Tuesday as investors prepared for the final trading session of the first half and second quarter of 2026, with attention centered on key economic data, Nikes earnings report, and...

Central Banks Eye Gold, Reduce Dollar Exposure as AI Adoption Accelerates: OMFIF Survey

Central banks are increasingly reassessing their reserve strategies, with more institutions planning to reduce U.S. dollar allocations over the next decade than increase them, according to a new survey released Tuesday by...

Gold Price Hits Annual Low as Fed Rate Hike Bets and Sticky Inflation Weigh on Bullion

Gold prices extended their decline on Tuesday, falling to their lowest level of the year as investors reacted to growing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve could raise interest rates again amid persistent...

Politics

DOE Declares Power Grid Emergency as Extreme Heat Strains PJM Electricity Supply

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has declared an emergency across the nations largest power grid as extreme heat drives electricity demand to critical levels, raising concerns about power supply reliability. In an...

DOJ Orders Crackdown on Birth Tourism After Supreme Court Upholds Birthright Citizenship

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has instructed federal prosecutors to intensify investigations into alleged birth tourism schemes following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that rejected President Donald Trumps effort to...

Trump Suspends Some Morocco Fertilizer Tariffs to Ease U.S. Supply Shortage

U.S. President Donald Trump has authorized the temporary suspension of certain duties on phosphate fertilizer imports from Morocco in an effort to ease fertilizer shortages affecting American farmers, the White House...

Sheinbaum Says No One Is Above the Law After Abuse Video of Ex-Pemex Chief Emerges

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her administration will not shield anyone from justice after a video surfaced appearing to show former Pemex chief Victor Rodriguez physically assaulting his wife, prompting a...

Russian Attacks on Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv Kill 10 as Ukraine Vows Response

Russian missile and drone attacks on three major Ukrainian cities killed at least 10 people and injured dozens on Monday, Ukrainian officials said, as strikes continued throughout the day and emergency crews searched...

Science

Blue Origin New Glenn Explosion Could Delay Launch Operations Until 2028

Blue Origin is facing a significant setback after a dramatic explosion involving its New Glenn rocket severely damaged a launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. According to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, repairs to the...

Blue Origin New Glenn Rocket Explodes During Launch Pad Test, Delaying Space Ambitions

Blue Origin suffered a major setback after its uncrewed New Glenn rocket exploded during a launch pad test in Florida on Thursday, raising new challenges for Jeff Bezos space company as it competes with Elon Musks SpaceX...

SpaceX Delays Starship V3 Launch Ahead of Potential Record IPO

SpaceX on Thursday postponed the highly anticipated launch of its 12th Starship rocket test from Texas after technical issues interrupted the final countdown. The company now plans to attempt the Starship V3 launch again...

Trump Administration Releases New UFO Files and Apollo Mission Records

The U.S. Defense Department has released dozens of previously classified UFO-related files following an order from President Donald Trump, sparking renewed debate over unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) and government...

China vs. NASA: The New Moon Race and What's at Stake by 2030

The space race is back and this time, its a direct competition between the United States and China for dominance on the lunar surface. NASAs Artemis II mission recently made history when four astronauts flew farther into...

Technology

Nvidia Stock Rises as SemiAnalysis Sees AI Data Center Revenue Beating Wall Street Forecasts

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) shares rebounded on the final trading day of the quarter after bullish supply-chain research from independent semiconductor firm SemiAnalysis suggested the AI chipmakers data center business could...

TSMC CoWoS Capacity Forecast Raised as Mizuho Sees AI Server CPU Demand Surging Through 2027

Mizuho Securities Asia has increased its forecast for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.s (TSMC) advanced CoWoS packaging capacity, citing a much stronger outlook for artificial intelligence (AI) server processors and...

Anthropic Brings Claude AI Models to Microsoft Azure Foundry With NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs

Anthropic announced on Monday that its Claude family of artificial intelligence models is now available through Microsoft Foundry on Azure, powered by NVIDIAs GB300 Blackwell Ultra GPU systems. The rollout marks the first...

Apple Challenges India Antitrust Probe, Says CCI Copied Rivals’ Claims in App Store Case

Apple has intensified its legal battle with Indias antitrust regulator, arguing that investigators relied on copy-pasted allegations from rivals instead of conducting an independent review in a case that could reshape the...

Super Micro Shares Slide After Taiwan Raids Over Alleged Nvidia AI Chip Smuggling Probe

Super Micro Computer Inc. came under renewed scrutiny on Monday after Taiwanese authorities raided its local offices as part of an investigation into the alleged smuggling of Nvidia AI chips to China through the companys...