U.S. manufacturers facing tariff cuts expanded alliances while acquisitions held steady
Hanwen Sun and co-authors found that among 1,127 U.S. manufacturers, firms facing tariff cuts expanded alliances while acquisitions stayed broadly flat. The alliance firms later showed higher R&D intensity and patent output, a link the authors call an association.
Reality
- Evidence50
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives
- Not scored
- Confidence55
The S&P set 23 fewer record highs in year one of Trump's second term than in 2017
The index gained 13 to 16 percent from January 2025 to January 2026. That is between 54 and 66 percent of the 24.1 percent it posted in the same window of 2017, and it came off a base two consecutive 20 percent years had already lifted.
Reality
- Evidence32
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives55
- Confidence38
Michael Froman's Foreign Affairs case rests on two reported figures, a $1.2 trillion goods surplus for 2025 and a 20%-plus growth rate in early 2026, and the arithmetic between them is what turns tariffs from an event risk into the working assumption.
Reality
- Evidence54
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+24
- Incentives58
- Confidence62
Lagarde says Europe's postwar growth model is eroding and will not return in the form it knew
The ECB president told business leaders in Geneva that all three pillars of European growth are weakening at once. That makes the reset a planning assumption, not a cycle.
Reality
- Evidence58
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+14
- Incentives66
- Confidence55
A $904m robot IPO is outdrawing a $3bn Shein listing, and the multiples explain why
Unitree is pricing at roughly 36 times revenue while Shein seeks under one times. China's primary market is re-rating sectors wholesale, not picking companies.
Reality
- Evidence58
- Adoption46
- Hype gap+42
- Incentives74
- Confidence55