Tom Holland

Tom Holland

Deputy Global Research Director

Tom helps to steer Gavekal’s global research, with a special focus on energy markets. Before joining Gavekal in 2014 he worked as an analyst and commentator at media organizations including CNBC, The Wall Street Journal and the Far Eastern Economic Review, earning his spurs as the lead foreign exchange analyst for Dow Jones during the 1997-98 Asian currency crisis. He originally started his working life as an exploration geologist, until a collapse in commodity prices forced him into journalism as the traditional refuge of the otherwise unemployable.

Tom Holland's Articles

Selected research

Syria, Russia And Energy Dominance
Syria, Russia And Energy Dominance
Tom Holland, Yanmei Xie
10 Dec 2024
What happens next in Syria is anyone’s guess. Right now, hopes are high that the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime will bring an end to Syria’s civil war. But the overthrow of a Middle Eastern tyrant seldom ushers in a new era of peace and prosperity. Beyond Syria, however, some of the wider implications of al-Assad’s fall are already clear, and they point to a changed global landscape, especially in international energy markets.
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What Next In The Middle East?
What Next In The Middle East?
Tom Holland, Yanmei Xie
20 Sep 2024
Legions of observers are forecasting a runaway escalation of the Middle Eastern conflict into a general regional war pitting Israel directly against Iran after Israel detonated explosives in thousands of pagers acquired by Hezbollah. However, Tom and Yanmei explain that while such an extreme escalation is possible, there are good reasons to expect the fighting—and any fallout—to remain contained in the near term.
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Confirmation Bias In Action
22 Aug 2024
During Wednesday’s trading, the price of the front-month WTI crude oil future fell -3% to its lowest since early January. Although the price ticked up a few cents before the end of US hours, it remained below US$72/bbl, down from more than US$80/bbl just over a week earlier. The perversity comes because it was far easier to identify reasons why this fall did not happen than convincing reasons why it did.
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