Quiz show!

Katie Martin (0:06)

Pushkin. Listeners, you've survived another festive season, you're bursting with chocolates and booze, and you are, quite frankly, sick to the back teeth of parlour games. Well, have a little guess what we've got for you here. Yes, that's right, it's essentially another parlour game. Hooray! The festive period calls for frivolous nonsense, so we have prepared for you today a frivolous quiz. And when I say we, I very much mean I have prepared a quiz. Ladies and gentlemen, Rob, as usual, is just rocking up and making it up as he goes along. So grab a cup of tea or, hell, something stronger and play along at home. Today on the show, we will decide who is the winner of 2025 The stakes have arguably never been lower. This is Unhedged, the Markets and Finance podcast from the Financial Times. I'm Pushkin, I'm Katie Martin, quiz master and columnist at the FT in London. In an effort to organize doing as little as possible over this festive time, I'm hereby pre-recording a little quiz with the dynamic duo, the Batman and Robin, the Santa and Rudolph, that is Robert Armstrong off of the Unhedged newsletter, and friend of the show, Hull's Finest, John Foley, editor of the FT's excellent Smarty Pants Companies and Investment column, Lex.

John, you are also the owner of a spectacularly sore finger, are you not?

John Foley (1:31)

It's so sore, Katie. I fell over and I landed with my entire body weight, my not inconsiderable body weight on my ring finger on my right hand, and it popped out of its joint like something from a horror film.

Robert Armstrong (1:43)

We've all seen the x-ray. It looks pretty bad. Finger is not supposed to point that direction. I know. Anyway, this will get you no sympathy in the quiz, John.

John Foley (1:53)

It's fine.

Katie Martin (1:55)

I'm giving John one point on my little score sheet now. Pure sympathy. He's already starting ahead.

Robert Armstrong (2:02)

I would just like to say before we start this whole quiz, that Katie designs these quizzes to humiliate me personally. So I just want to lodge this complaint even before play begins.

John Foley (2:14)

Well, I'm here to help, Rob.

Robert Armstrong (2:16)

I'm complaining to whoever is the FIFA equivalent of holiday finance quizzes. I'm lodging an official complaint preemptively.

Katie Martin (2:25)

Complaints will get you no where because the rules of the quiz are as follows. I'm in charge. Okay, let's start with, it has to be done, a taco round. Just, you know, tying a bow on Rob's spectacular invention of the taco trade. Trump always chickens out. It's been dining out on it since April. April?

Before you know it, it would be a whole year of dining out on the taco trade. So, question one. US. President Donald Trump chickened out on tariffs when government bonds started crapping out. How did he describe the bond market at that time? Was it funky, yippy or jumpy?

Robert Armstrong (3:07)

I'll go first this time. You have to go first next time. Okay. It's yippy, I say. What do you say?

John Foley (3:12)

I also say yippy.

Katie Martin (3:13)

You are both correct. It was indeed yippy. Yippy. One point to each of you, but as I say, John's got an extra sympathy point because of his sort of thing.

John Foley (3:21)

A pity point.

Katie Martin (3:25)

Trump himself was asked about the taco trade in the Oval Office, marking the peak of Rob's fame slash notoriety. How did he respond? Was it the nastiest question, the stupidest question or the meanest question?

John Foley (3:40)

It was the nastiest question.

Robert Armstrong (3:41)

Yeah, that's correct. It was the nastiest question.

Katie Martin (3:44)

You're both saying nastiest and you're both correct.

Robert Armstrong (3:46)

God, 2 and Feeling good.

Katie Martin (3:51)

So no more taco questions. I feel like we've almost reached the point of taco saturation.

It's got a reindeer, it's got the whole thing. We don't need any more.

Robert Armstrong (4:01)

Moving on.

Katie Martin (4:02)

No more taco. Moving on with our sad little lives. Okay. More Trump stuff. Question number 3, a tariffs question. What was the tariff rate imposed on the herd of McDonald Islands on Liberation Day? For guidance, these islands are inhabited almost exclusively by penguins. What was the rate?

Robert Armstrong (4:25)

Well, we all know how this administration feels about penguins. It's hostile. They are hostile.

Towards the penguins. I don't know. John may know. So you're not going to give us options. You're just going to pick a number and it's whoever's closer.

Katie Martin (4:47)