Resilient Growth, Narrower Leadership
The story of the week was a global rethink of interest rates. It began in the US on Wednesday, when the S&P Global flash Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 58.4 — the fastest pace of private-sector growth in more than five years. Input costs rose at their steepest pace in four years, and firms […]
German Election Spotlights European Politics
Financial markets ended the week in a cautious mood. Big technology companies continued to support US share prices, particularly those tied to artificial intelligence, but investors remained wary of higher borrowing costs, richly valued shares, and mounting political uncertainty in Europe. European markets were the weaker spot, weighed down by slow growth, high energy prices, […]
The 3 I’s
Markets spent the week wrestling with three forces that, together, explain most of what moved portfolios: inflation, interest rates, and — in an unexpected twist — incentives. Major equity indices slipped between 1% and 2% as investors began to price in the possibility that persistently higher inflation could dent consumer confidence and spending. For internationally […]
Markets get a reminder that central banks still matter
The past week delivered a familiar lesson to investors: however exciting the growth story, the direction of interest rates still sets the tone for financial markets. Equity markets had been riding high on strong corporate earnings, enthusiasm around artificial intelligence, and hopes that inflation was cooling. That optimism met resistance this week from firmer economic […]
The Cost of Money Starts to Matter
Global markets spent much of last week reassessing one assumption that has underpinned investor optimism for most of 2026: that interest rates are heading lower. A Reassessment at Jackson Hole At the centre of the conversation was the Federal Reserve’s annual international conference on economic policy, hosted last week in Jackson Hole, where Federal Reserve […]
Debasement 2.0?
Market action this past week was defined by one dominant force: the bond market flexing its muscles and forcing Washington to respond. As US Treasury yields climbed toward two-decade highs, with federal debt crossing a record $40 trillion, the Treasury announced it would at least double its long-dated bond buybacks, from $2 billion to $4 […]
Gold & Silver Bounce
On the surface, the second week of August looked like a quiet one for markets. Underneath, there was a lot happening — and much of it matters for how advisers think about diversification into the autumn. A Constructive Backdrop, With Caveats Global equities extended their recent run, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq notching a […]
Tech Stocks Propel the S&P 500 to a Record High
August has opened on a far calmer note than the July that preceded it, and for internationally mobile investors, the shift is worth pausing on. US equities posted one of their strongest weekly gains in months, driven by two developments that eased pressure on central banks and markets alike: a de-escalation of tensions between the […]
A Fighter We Believe In: Meet Diego Krasimirov
There is a version of this story that starts with a knockout. Instead, it starts with a teenager walking into a gym near his house in Palma de Mallorca, and never walking back out. Diego Krasimirov is 22 years old, born in Palma to Bulgarian parents, and has spent roughly the last ten years of his life in boxing. […]
The AI Bill Comes Due
For much of the past two years, global markets have operated on a simple assumption: spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure was worth almost any price. Data centres, semiconductor capacity and cloud computing were treated as essential investments rather than optional extras, and companies willing to commit capital aggressively to the AI build-out were rewarded accordingly. […]