Their argument—perhaps one of the most extreme ones that Fortune has ever seen in an investment bank research note—is that when the U.S. goes through a major political convulsion a period of stagnation follows, and thus investors should begin moving their money away from America:

“A line can be traced, for example, from the failure of the U.S. in the Vietnam War and the follow-on decline in U.S, primacy, to the U.S.’s gold reserve depletion, and the subsequent end of the fixed exchange rate system under the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944. The ‘fiat money’ era that followed was associated with a large decline in the real value of the USD, from 1971 until 1981, as well as a period of inflation and recessions across the 1970s,” they said. 

“We should worry about the USD and its relation to other currencies, too. If the reserve status of the USD does depend on the U.S. role in the world—as guarantor of security and a rules-based order—then the events of the past year, and of the past three weeks, in particular, carry the seeds of a reallocation away from the USD, and the search for alternatives, especially among reserve managers. So far, allocators have only found solace in gold, but they may eventually move toward other fiat currencies, too.”

Wall Street got a glimpse of what this might look like when the Danish retirement savings fund AkademikerPension said yesterday that it would sell its $100 million stake in U.S. bonds by the end of the week.

So far, traders are flinching at Trump’s actions. But we haven’t yet seen the kind of full-scale capital flight away from U.S. assets that might, for instance, raise inflation, interest rates or trigger a recession. But the mere fact that Wall Street is discussing it is significant.

Deutsche Bank’s George Saravelos told clients in a note at the weekend: “Europe owns Greenland, it also owns a lot of Treasuries. We spent most of last year arguing that for all its military and economic strength, the U.S. has one key weakness: it relies on others to pay its bills via large external deficits. Europe, on the other hand, is America’s largest lender: European countries own $8 trillion of US bonds and equities, almost twice as much as the rest of the world combined. In an environment where the geoeconomic stability of the western alliance is being disrupted existentially, it is not clear why Europeans would be as willing to play this part. Danish pension funds were one of the first to repatriate money and reduce their dollar exposure this time last year. With USD exposure still very elevated across Europe, developments over the last few days have potential to further encourage dollar rebalancing.”

This note was internally controversial. Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing had to call U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to disavow it.

The CEO does not stand by it but Saravelos’s colleagues may be more sympathetic. Jim Reid and his team, who religiously send an early morning email summarizing market action, did not send their email this morning. The bank told Fortune, “Deutsche Bank Research is independent in their work, therefore views expressed in individual research notes do not necessarily represent the view of the bank’s management.”

In fact, the idea that Europe might move out of U.S. assets is a commonplace inside investment banks right now. At UBS, Paul Donovan told clients earlier this week, “The implications of additional tariffs are more U.S. inflation pressures and a further erosion of the USD’s status as a reserve currency. So far, bond investors do not seem to be taking the threats too seriously.”

This morning he said that the most likely scenario wouldn’t be investors selling U.S. debt but simply refusing to buy new debt, thus reducing the flow of funds that the America is dependent on.

In a tariff war, one under-discussed weapon at Europe’s disposal is its Anti-Coercion Instrument: It has the power to ban U.S. services businesses from the E.U.

“U.S. services exports to the E.U. were $295B in 2024, equivalent to 0.9% of US GDP, suggesting the harm could be much greater if the E.U. pulled this relatively new lever at its disposal than if it responded simply with tariffs, though its economy would be hurt more too,” Pantheon Macroeconomics analysts Samuel Tombs and Oliver Allen told clients.

“In short, nobody would win from a new trade war, but the E.U. has ample scope to harm the U.S. if the Greenland situation escalates,” they said.

Here’s a snapshot of the markets ahead of the opening bell in New York this morning:

• S&P 500 futures were up 0.19% this morning. The last session closed down 2.06%.
• STOXX Europe 600 was down 0.4% in early trading.
• The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was flat in early trading. 
• Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.41%.
• China’s CSI 300 was flat. 
• The South Korea KOSPI was up 0.49%. 
• India’s NIFTY 50 was down 0.3%. 
• Bitcoin was down to $89K.

But it’s not because Gen Z doesn’t want to find love, according to a report by Match Group and Harris Poll shared exclusively with Fortune. In fact, their survey results from 2,500 randomly selected U.S. adults shows 80% of Gen Z say they believe they’ll find true love, making them the most optimistic generation about finding love. Yet, only 55% of Gen Z feel like they’re actually ready for partnership. 

Therein lies the “readiness paradox,” a phenomenon that paralyzes Gen Z from taking that initial step toward a serious relationship, and subsequently toward marriage and having children. While more than half of Gen Z says they feel lonely despite having online connections, 48% of Gen Z women report feeling additional pressure to enter a relationship for “the right reason,” rather than solely to avoid loneliness. This cycle traps young people in loneliness, which is amplified by social media pressures, like the dread of “hard-launching” a relationship. 

“It makes total sense to be stuck in that paralysis of, I want this, I want a relationship, but I don’t feel ready for it, and so I don’t do it,” Chine Mmegwa, head of strategy, corporate development, and business operations at Match Group, told Fortune. “What they’re afraid of is failing. What they’re afraid of is that the other person on the other side isn’t ready.”

Match Group defines this phenomenon as a “self-reinforcing cycle” in which Gen Zers set a high bar for readiness for a relationship, then feel anxious about being alone, then crave new relationships, believe they’re not ready for it and wait longer, experience more loneliness, and then the cycle repeats. 

And some of this cycle stems from the fact that Gen Z prioritizes investing in personal growth, therapy, and defining success over other generations. Nearly 60% of Gen Z women say therapy is essential to relationship success, according to the Match Group report, and almost 50% say that setting and respecting healthy boundaries is a prime indication of being ready for a romantic relationship. And as a result, they may be more likely to delay dating. 

This report serves as a launchpad for Match Group and other dating app companies to rethink how to best serve Gen Z consumers, some of which had ditched the apps when they did have features they could relate to. But now Tinder has introduced more casual modes for Gen Zers to meet each other, like through its double-date feature and college mode where the generation can meet more people with the same relationship goals in mind.

That’s a step in the right direction for a generation that is reverting back to a desire to meet in real life.

“This is the way Gen Z wants to connect,” Match Group CEO Spencer Rascoff previously said. “They want to vibe their way through meeting people.”

Reprioritizing milestones

Unlike how some other reports about Gen Z love life have portrayed the generation, they’re not rejecting romance. Instead, they’re reshuffling life’s timeline amid economic and social strains. 

Match Group’s report shows nearly half of Gen Z say they’re not ready for relationships now, and 75% aren’t rushing into one. But, again, 80% say they believe they’ll find true love.

“They believe that when they work on themselves, their relationships become stronger,” according to the Match Group report. “And they are more likely to wait until they can put their best selves forward to give themselves the highest chance of relationship success.”

Although that may sound like worrisome news for a company trying to appeal to the latest generation, Mmegwa didn’t shy away from the challenge. 

Gen Z is “still looking to our products to solve real big issues. And they are still looking to our products and to dating to solve the things that are most important to them” she said. “It’s just a question of when and how they will use our products that [is] very different from prior generations.”

This generation also has a very different view of how happy their own parents’ and grandparents’ relationships are: Only 37% described those relationships as happy, and 34% of Gen Z women also feel working through issues from past relationships indicates readiness, according to the report.

Social media’s vicious cycle

Being highly inundated by and invested in social media has also exacerbated the readiness paradox. While 46% of Gen Z “soft-launch” relationships versus 27% overall, 81% see it as an ironclad agreement, and dread backlash from a public failure. 

It’s different from how other generations view making relationships public: “You can also hard launch and then delete the photos the next day, and it’s okay,” Mmegwa said. 

But still, for Gen Z, relationship performance pressure creates a cycle: High readiness bars lead to loneliness, which ultimately leads to them pursuing lower-stakes or casual relationships that rarely escalate into something more serious.

Instagram exacerbates the stall. While 46% of Gen Z “soft-launch” relationships versus 27% overall, 81% who hard-launch see it as an ironclad commitment, dreading public failure. Mmegwa highlighted this generational shift: “You can also hard launch and then delete the photos the next day, and it’s okay.” This “performance pressure” creates a cycle: High readiness bars lead to loneliness (over 50% feel it despite online ties), prompting low-stakes connections that rarely escalate.​

“For us, the focus is on how we bring people together and encourage them to return to in-person connections,” Hinge CEO Jackie Jantos previously told Fortune. Hinge is part of Match Group, along with Tinder, Match, and OkCupid.

How Match Group plans to address the readiness paradox

Match Group is planning to meet Gen Z where they are: They’ll keep introducing “low-pressure” tools, like Tinder’s Double Dating feature and College Mode.

“The idea here is really around helping our users have the power to control what they’re looking for in a given moment and be able to find that more easily,” Cleo Long, Tinder’s senior director of global product marketing, previously told Fortune.

Using the report as a roadmap for new product plans, future features could include features like readiness signals, Mmegwa said, and more curated matches will be important. 

“It’s no longer a speed and volume game,” she said. “It’s [about] truly making our algorithms help you know yourself better, and then help you know the person on the other side of the connection better.”

I attended the launch event of the Institute of Internal Auditors’ (IIA) Global Audit Committee Center last week in Washington, D.C., which addressed the challenges and opportunities facing audit committees.
The center is designed to be a resource to strengthen the alliance between audit committees of boards and internal audit in a fast-changing risk environment. It offers research, webinars, and events and will ultimately add formal training programs.

“The center has a very strong core belief—well-informed, engaged, and well-supported audit committees are essential to corporate governance,” said Anthony Pugliese, president and CEO of the IIA.

Pugliese emphasized that board audit committees need to turn to internal audit to truly understand what is happening inside an organization. The event drew members from across the U.S. and around the world, including Canada, Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, with Abdullah Alshebeili, CEO of the Saudi Authority of Internal Auditors, in attendance.

CFOs, in particular, work with internal audit on risk assessment, internal controls, and audit readiness, and they share information on financial processes and control issues. Finance chiefs also communicate regularly with the board’s audit committee.

AI and analytics reshape how audit committees see risk

During a panel discussion at the event, Ann Cohen, CFO of the IIA, said audit committees are increasingly using AI and advanced technology to connect different types of risk—third-party, financial, operational, cyber, and regulatory. They are using analytics to surface anomalies and emerging risks earlier, support proactive oversight, and run “what if” analyses before risks materialize. “It allows us to be more responsive to risks and provide more robust assurance to stakeholders,” she said.

A major focus is “everyday AI,” said Sarah Francis of the EY Center for Board Effectiveness. “I think audit committees are really also looking at, ‘How do we start to touch, feel, smell, and get used to the products that are out there?’” Directors, many of whom are active executives, are also thinking about how to deploy these tools effectively. “There have to be clear governance frameworks for AI and analytics,” she said, noting that prompts—and the people who craft them—matter. She highlighted the need for experts who can help frame broader questions around ethics within responsible AI frameworks.

Audit committees can and should engage with technology as they work toward a fully defined plan, commented Luke Whorton, executive search and leadership consultant at Spencer Stuart in the firm’s Financial Officer Practice. “How do you create a foundation, but one that’s agile and responsive, because it’s going to continue to change rapidly?” he asked.

“Audit committees need to be curious,” Cohen said. “They need to challenge management on their inputs, on their assumptions and their judgment, and on what they’ve embedded into their AI outputs.”

The committees that challenge assumptions and lean into technology, alongside strong partnerships with internal audit, could be well-positioned to safeguard trust in an uncertain world.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

Leaderboard

Linda LaGorga will step down as CFO of Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENTG), an advanced materials science provider,  effective Feb. 28. Effective March 1. Mike Sauer, Entegris’ VP, controller and chief accounting officer, will assume the role of interim CFO, in addition to maintaining the responsibilities of his current role. LaGorga will serve as a senior advisor to Entegris through May 15. Entegris has initiated a search process for a permanent CFO with an executive search firm. Sauer has 37 years of experience in finance and accounting roles at Entegris. 

Hugo Doetsch was appointed CFO of AuditBoard, a governance, risk, and compliance platform. Doetsch brings over two decades of financial leadership and strategic operating experience to AuditBoard. Most recently, he served as CFO at symplr, an enterprise health care operations software provider. Before that, he was CFO at NetDocuments, a cloud-based content management platform. Doetsch also held senior leadership roles at Ping Identity, where he assisted the company in a 2019 initial public offering.

Big Deal

The 2026 Fortune World’s Most Admired Companies list was released this morning. The annual ranking of corporate reputation is based on a poll of some 3,000 executives, directors, and analysts. 

Apple has been No. 1 for 19 consecutive years. Amazon and Microsoft have filled out the top three for seven years in a row. Berkshire Hathaway (No. 6) and Alphabet (No. 8) have each been in the top 10 for well over a decade. Berkshire, the conglomerate nurtured by Warren Buffett, holds the distinction of having been on the All-Star list every single year since it launched in 1998; it shares that honor with Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Toyota Motor, and Johnson & Johnson.

Going deeper

“Who Gets Replaced by AI and Why?” is a report in Wharton’s business journal. New research from Wharton’s Pinar Yildirim explores how AI can impact employee motivation when it is implemented in the wrong part of a team’s workflow. The research addresses topics such as how managers should deploy AI capacity in teams and which positions are most vulnerable to being displaced by AI.

Overheard

“Working closely with David Ellison and this exceptional management team made the decision to resign from the board and jump in fully as CFO an easy one.” 

—Dennis K. Cinelli wrote in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday regarding his appointment, effective Jan. 15, as CFO of Paramount, and his resignation from the company’s board. Most recently, Cinelli served as CFO of Scale AI, and he previously held senior finance and operational roles at Uber.