CEO INSIGHTS – Week Ending 30 October 2026

Agentic Payments

“It’s still early in the game. Agentic transaction volumes are still small, but the direction is clear. AI is fundamentally changing how consumers and businesses discover, compare, decide, pay and manage their finances and their lives.” Steve Squeri, CEO, American Express Co.

Cybersecurity Risk

“It is the No.1 thing that keeps me up at night. Not because I’m Robinson Crusoe, but because I believe it is the largest single threat to virtually any industry or government.” Sam Hupert, CEO, Pro Medicus Ltd

Power Stations

“We’ve flooded the market with zero-cost rooftop solar energy and zero-fuel-cost renewables, which decreases prices in the near term, but medium and long term the outcome is worse for business, consumers and our economic prosperity…The cheap market prices mean investment cases don’t stack up, so we can’t bring new plants online to replace the ageing ones or invest to keep those old ones reliable for longer. If we don’t see some significant, thoughtful and pragmatic reform, then we’re entering into a power station death spiral.” Greg Elkins, CEO, Global Power Energy [Australian energy consultancy/advisory company]

Halloween

“Halloween has continued to grow in popularity with our customers, and we’ve seen strong demand for this year’s range.” Market Statement, Bunnings Group

Furniture

“We recognise that macroeconomic headwinds continue to affect consumer discretionary spending.” Anthony Scali, CEO, Nick Scali Ltd

International Tourists

“Volume performance varied across sites due to differing impacts of weather, international customer visitation trends…” Market Statement, Experience Co Ltd

Oil

“The world has lost an enormous amount of oil supply, and the shortfall continues to grow. Current estimates are that nearly 3 billion barrels of supply have been lost since the conflict began and that about 1 billion barrels have been drawn from global inventories.” Jeff Miller, CEO, Halliburton Co.

Heavy Machinery & Mining

“High commodity prices continue to underpin a strong activity, and we see a good demand both for equipment and aftermarket.” Stefan Widing, CEO, Sandvik Group

Interest Rates

“Interest rates have gone up, and we have all seen long-term correlation analysis that when interest rates reach like 5% plus, and they have reached that in the U.S. now, these interest rates start to develop teeth.” Dominik Asam, CFO, SAP SE

“I’ve always said that 3% to 4% interest rate is at the peak of the sweet spot for banks, even though beyond that, we continue to grow banking NII [net interest income], albeit at a slower rate.” Manveen Kaur, CFO, HSBC Holdings plc

Nutrition

“The nutrition market has evolved over time with the pace of change accelerating significantly in recent years. What was once predominantly viewed as a health care market, almost exclusively shaped by health care professionals, has increasingly become a market shaped by changing consumer preferences, wellness trends, and retail execution. While this market evolution is not inherently positive or negative, it has fundamentally changed the environment in which we operate.” Robert Ford, CEO, Abbott Laboratories Inc.

Caravans & RVs

“Within RV Products, we are currently experiencing a negative market development, which is clearly impacting sales.” Mattias Ankarberg, CEO, Thule AB

Defence Sector

“We are innovating faster with the best technologies available, providing integrated capabilities across every domain to answer a defence sector demand that appears permanent, resulting in a business that is resilient through any budget cycle. Munitions are a major part of that story, but they’re far from the only engine of our growth.” James Taiclet, CEO, Lockheed Martin Corp.

Value

“Overall, we expect consumer behaviour to remain largely unchanged with value being a very important consideration across all markets and income groups.” John Murphy, CFO, The Coca-Cola Company

Telecommunications & Agents

“I think there could be at least 100 billion agents. There is going to be an explosion in data traffic, and our network will become a scarce and crucial asset, and we will price it as such.” Dan Schulman, CEO, Verizon Communications Inc.

Car Maintenance

“We have a large and ageing car parc, requiring maintenance that is largely nondiscretionary.” Market Statement, Amotiv Ltd