If you read the financial news this week you will see that everyone is talking about interest-rate cuts. The most prominent discussion on this topic is in the US, in the run-up to the election. Supporters of the Democratic Party have been crying out for the US Federal Reserve to
Transport secretary Louise Haigh has admitted that the costs of HS2 continue to spiral as she announced plans to “get the project back under control” with another independent review, say Jim Pickard and Gill Plimmer in the Financial Times. The original cost of the Y-shaped rail line, intended to link
This year is shaping up to be a landmark one for the investment trust sector. It entered 2024 in turmoil. Trusts were trading at the widest average discount to net asset value (NAV) since 2009, and managers were fighting the City regulator’s heavy-handed application of cost-disclosure rules. These made trusts
With gold providing strong performance in 2024, many investors are looking to gold miners. The AuAg ESG Gold Mining Ucits ETF (LSE: ESGO) is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) offering equal-weighted exposure to mining companies with high environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards. This ETF therefore has two unique features. Firstly,
The government has scrapped plans to assess child benefit eligibility based on household income. One of the final acts of the Tory government was to announce an overhaul of the controversial high income child benefit (HICB) charge. Currently, child benefit – worth up to £1,248 a year – starts to
Markets knew chancellor Rachel Reeves was planning to change the government’s fiscal rules in her Autumn Budget speech. She confirmed as much last week. There was a fair amount of noise in the lead-up as investors questioned what this would mean for the gilt market. Critics muttered words like “Truss”
Businesses owners, higher earners and investors are braced for tax increases after yesterday’s Autumn Budget. Chancellor Rachel Reeves used her first Budget to unveil £40 billion of tax rises. She kept her pledge to protect working people by not raising employee national insurance, income tax or VAT. Subscribe to MoneyWeek
They rely purely on oil and gas. They don’t have much in the way of a domestic economy, nor do they have the depth of technical skills to compete in highly sophisticated service industries. Yet commerce hubs in the Gulf, such as in Bahrain, are emerging as genuine finance centres