As is often the case in the summer when market liquidity is at its lowest, volatility has increased as markets have reacted nervously to the early weeks of Kevin Warsh's tenure as Chair of the US Federal Reserve (Fed). This has masked what has been a pretty good earnings season for the hyper-scalers (Microsoft, Amazon etc) who are spending billions of dollars on AI development. In the recent Fed policy meeting, Warsh provided very limited guidance on the future direction of i

The second quarter of 2026 was exceptionally strong for global stock markets, delivering some of the best returns seen since the post-pandemic recovery period. Most major equity markets rose substantially, with technology companies, particularly those exposed to artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors and memory chips, being among the strongest performers across the US and Asia. What makes this rally particularly noteworthy is that it occurred despite a challenging backd

Britain's main political parties have refused to contest the Clacton by-election triggered by Nigel Farage's resignation, describing the vote as a political stunt designed to distract from ongoing investigations into his financial declarations. Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Greens and Restore Britain have all ruled out standing candidates, leaving Farage likely to face only minor-party and independent challengers. Reform UK argues the move demonstrates opponen