Toby Nangle
Toby Nangle writes for the Financial Times on the intersection of global economics, financial markets and the business of investing. His work stands out for treating market stories as questions of system design and incentives, not just price moves or headlines. He tends to write analytical columns rather than short news reports, unpacking how policy choices, market structure and investor behaviour connect.
Macro narratives tested against market realities
Nangle’s core focus is on big macroeconomic stories and what they really mean for markets and investors. He tests popular narratives against data, history and the practical constraints faced by policymakers, challenging easy analogies or over-simplified market clichés. His writing often looks at how growth, inflation, interest rates and debt dynamics are transmitted through bond markets, currencies and equities, and how these forces show up in institutional portfolios.
Rather than treating macro as an abstract debate, he frames it as a set of risks and opportunities that matter to pension funds, asset managers, insurers and other long-term investors. He is interested in the plumbing of the financial system — how regulation, balance sheets and market conventions shape the way capital flows around the world. That gives his coverage a structural bent that goes beyond the latest data release or central bank speech.
China, Japan and lessons from past crises
A recurring feature of Nangle’s work is the use of historical comparison to test current fears. In writing on China, for example, he tackles the claim that the country is “the next Japan”, examining how differences in demographics, policy, banking systems and state involvement change the investment implications. He uses these comparisons to separate surface similarities from deeper structural gaps, and to show where markets may be mispricing long-run outcomes.
This habit of interrogating analogies runs through his broader coverage of business and markets. He is alert to how investors latch on to historical episodes as mental shortcuts, and he spends time showing where those shortcuts break down. The result is coverage that is less about predicting a single outcome and more about mapping the range of plausible paths and the conditions that would push markets one way or another.
Long-term capital, risk and the asset management lens
Nangle writes with particular attention to institutions that deploy long-term capital — especially pension schemes and professional investment managers. He examines how funding rules, liability structures, governance and regulation shape their behaviour, and how that behaviour feeds back into market stability or fragility. Questions such as how long-term investors should think about sovereign debt, equity risk and illiquid assets feature in his work.
Across these pieces, he brings a practitioner’s lens to issues that might otherwise be handled as pure macro or pure policy stories. He is interested in how abstract ideas — from monetary policy frameworks to demographic change — translate into portfolio construction, risk management and product design inside the investment industry. That makes his coverage particularly relevant for sources who can speak to market structure, institutional investing, and the business implications of shifting macro regimes.
4 more business journalists.
Alex Bronzini-Vender
Alex Bronzini-Vender is a business reporter who focuses on how economic forces and corporate decisions shape specific communities and industries. He covers business for the Washington Monthly, writing reported pieces at the intersection of commerce and public life. His work reflects the magazine’s emphasis on linking markets and money to power, policy, and everyday experience. He treats business not as balance sheets and deals but as choices that affect local realities. In “Fear and Loathing in Palo Alto,” he uses a city tied to the tech sector to examine how a powerful industry influences a community. He grounds his business beat in on-the-ground consequences rather than treating corporate and financial developments in isolation.
Alex Smith
Alex Smith focuses on the business impact of enterprise technology, with a distinctive emphasis on AI literacy and skills rather than technical specifications. They write for Technology Record, covering how artificial intelligence and cloud platforms from major providers are turned into concrete programmes for organisations and governments. Their beat sits at the junction of business strategy, national digital policy and large-scale technology partnerships. They report on national AI literacy programmes and public–private partnerships, showing how policy choices, vendor capabilities and skills gaps intersect. On the business beat, they treat AI and cloud as tools for competitiveness, workforce readiness and participation in a data-driven economy. Their concise, announcement-led reporting highlights who is partnering with whom, what programme is being launched, which technologies underpin it and how it changes capability on the ground for executive readers.
Alison Durkee
Alison Durkee focuses on how law, regulation and politics create business risks for major companies and industries. She is a reporter at Forbes, where she writes news-driven explainers on complex legal and regulatory developments and their impact on corporate strategy, reputation and markets. Her coverage centers on companies under scrutiny, especially in technology and other high-growth sectors, and tracks trials, investigations and fast-changing policy fights. She breaks down lawsuits, inquiries and regulatory moves into clear parts, grounded in timelines, filings and official actions. She reports on generative artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies as tests of legal frameworks and corporate risk management, explaining how issues like intellectual property, safety compliance, consumer protection and governance can reshape product roadmaps, partnerships and investor expectations.
Alyson Shontell
Alyson Shontell covers business through the lens of leadership, using in-depth conversations with powerful executives and founders to show how their decisions shape companies, markets, and public life. She is editor in chief at Fortune, overseeing coverage across the masthead while continuing to write selected high-impact pieces. Her core work is long, reported interviews and profiles of CEOs of large companies, dominant tech firms, and fast-growing startups. She focuses on how leaders think, manage risk, make unconventional calls, and handle crises, culture, and the future of work. Her subjects include corporate chiefs, startup founders, and political figures treated as executives. She probes operating detail, governance, internal culture, and trade-offs around growth, disruption, and workplace models, using concrete examples and direct, accessible prose that foregrounds the subject’s voice while pressing for specifics.