MoneyWeek

Brent crude oil prices have fallen below $70 a barrel, their lowest level since December 2021. The oil benchmark has plunged 14% in a month amid signs that a slowing global economy will lead to an oversupplied oil market. Last week, Opec+, the oil ca

“Nobody rings a bell at the top or the bottom of the market.” No, but sometimes there appears to be at least a faint tinkling sound in the background. There are several signs of danger. For one thing, the AI bubble is hissing air. The Philadelphia Se

Stock portfolios are feeling the “autumn chill”, says The Economist. US markets spent the first half of 2024 in a “euphoric mood”, notching up weekly gains in 28 of the 37 weeks through mid-July for their “best streak in more than three decades”. Yet

Eurofi, an “opaque” lobbying group that calls itself a think tank, “offers businesses access to European Union politicians and regulators”, says Hannah Brenton in Politico. Its members, made up of banks, stock exchanges and tech giants, including Bla

“At Sotheby’s flagship New York contemporary sales in May… Francis Bacon’s Portrait of George Dyer was knocked down for $27.7m, just above half its $50m high estimate… in Manhattan and Mayfair, high-end collectors may… be increasingly nervous of the

Iron ore futures have slumped below $90 a tonne for the first time since November 2022. Weak demand for the steel-making ingredient comes amid ongoing stagnation in the Chinese property market. Traders had been pinning their hopes on “policies aimed

Shares in Entain, the gambling group behind Ladbrokes and Sportingbet, rose by 5% this week following an encouraging update, says Dominic Walsh in The Times. Entain said that there had been “positive momentum at the start of the second half, with the

Shares in Japan’s Seven & i Holdings, which operates 7-Eleven convenience stores worldwide, have risen after it said it was “open to discussions” with Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard if the latter improves its $39bn takeover bid, say P.R. Venkat an

One of the main reasons Royal Mail’s parent company “rolled over” in May and recommended a £3.6bn takeover offer from a Daniel Kretinsky-led bid vehicle was “significant uncertainty” around regulatory reform, says Nils Pratley in the Guardian. But su

The Telegraph Teck Resources has sold off its oil and coal arms in order to focus on low-carbon metals such copper and zinc. It received $7.3bn from the coal sale, allowing it to pay down debt, return capital to shareholders, and invest in copper and

“Thousands of angry left-wing protesters” took to the streets in France on Saturday in the “opening salvo” of what “could be weeks or months of demonstrations”, says The Observer. The protesters accused president Emmanuel Macron of a “denial of democ

South Korean start-up Rebellions intends to go public by late 2025 or early 2026, after merging with SK Telecom’s Sapeon Korea in November, says Bloomberg. Rebellion intends to cash in on the demand for chips fuelled by the artificial-intelligence (A

When it comes to sorting or recycling rubbish, packaging and bottles for deposit-return schemes, Norway’s Tomra is among the world’s leaders, says WirtschaftsWoche. The shares have slid over the past two years, however, as a restructuring programme a

Kamala Harris’s performance in this week’s televised presidential debate has moved betting markets in favour of the current vice-president, says Matthew Partridge. With £64.2m matched on Betfair, Harris is now the favourite at 1.97 (50.8%) to win the

US president Joe Biden is poised to lift a ban on British Storm Shadow missiles being fired by Ukraine into Russian territory following the delivery of new Iranian arms to Russia, says The Telegraph. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and Brita

For most of the 1990s, Topshop ruled the high street. Under the management of the combative Philip Green, or at least of his senior staff, it pioneered cheap, fast fashion, bringing style and panache to clothes that everyone could afford. It formed p

The recession that bond markets have been forecasting has yet to materialise, says Jim Leaviss, one of Britain’s best-known bond investors, who is retiring from M&G after 27 years. However, a slowdown is still coming, “although it does look like a so

In Bruce’s article about the future of banks (see page 20), he notes that private investors seem increasingly wary of initial public offerings (IPOs). Obviously the number of new listings in London has been low for quite some time and it’s hard to kn

“The attention cools off if your movies are not making a ton of money. There is a definite tier system as to who is offered what first.” Actor Jude Law (pictured) on how his star fell after one of his films flopped, quoted in The Sunday Times “I’ve

Alice Hancock Financial Times Before selling a single bra in the EU, lingerie makers will soon have to provide “a wealth of data on what it will be made of, who will make it and what it will cost the planet”, says Alice Hancock. Businesses will short

● “Forget the ‘Glazed Smashed Burger’. What about the glazed, smashed shareholders?” asks Alistair Osborne in The Times. Investors who backed TGI Fridays’ British franchisee, Hostmore, “look as fried as some of the food”. Three years after Hostmore w

The sterling overnight index average (SONIA) is an interest-rate benchmark representing the average rate at which banks borrow sterling overnight in wholesale money markets (ie, from financial institutions and institutional investors). SONIA is used

theconversation.com Amid the doom and gloom in UK retail, bookshops offer a rare beacon of hope, says Samantha Rayner. Last year, the British high street lost more than 10,000 shops, but the number of bookshops remained largely stable, and some 51 n

fee.org Corporate America is finally retreating from its self-appointed position at the vanguard of social activism, said John Miltimore. Corporations across the US have been scaling down their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives for t

capx.co The principles of economics are simple, and yet woefully understood by the wider public, says Steve Davies. A “classic example” is the recent uproar over the use of “dynamic pricing” software to sell Oasis tickets – and the bizarre decision

US hedge fund Starboard Value is pushing to scrap dual-class shares that allow Rupert Murdoch to control News Corp., challenging the mogul’s hold on his media empire while he is embroiled in a legal battle with his children, says The New York Times.

Labour is considering a tightening rules relating to capital gains tax (CGT). It may therefore make sense to take new steps to protect yourself from CGT in the future. Consider a “bed and pension” transaction, where you sell assets currently held in

● “Were you preparing to do your patriotic duty by investing in a British Isa, that late-in-the-day invention of Jeremy Hunt when the last government was scratching around for ideas to perk up the UK stockmarket?” asks Nils Pratley in The Guardian. “

● How much extra state pension will you get next year? The Treasury assumes that the “triple-lock” formula will net pensioners an increase in their annual state pension of either £300 or £400 from next April. Both are correct. For pensioners who reti

■ British pension funds are “towards the bottom of the pack” in investing in their home stockmarket compared with their global counterparts. Only 4.4% of UK pension assets, excluding personal pensions, are held in domestic equities, down from 6.1% la

“No way,” said Noel Gallagher when asked whether he would ever play another gig with his brother, Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher. “If I had [only] 50 quid in my pocket I’d rather go busking.” Five years on from that comment, which came after “perhaps

Consumers are outraged over a U-turn on fraud compensation. The Payments Systems Regulator has announced that it will lower banks’ maximum payouts to compensate people for fraud from £415,000 to £85,000. Consumers’ group Which says that victims who l

Around £42, 9elmswines.co.uk, vinebud.co.uk Last October, I wrote up 2021 Vinya del Coll on this very page. I declared that this extraordinary xarel-lo, a collaboration between stellar Spanish winemaker Pepe Raventós and Vincent Pastorello, ex-sommel

Editor: Andrew Van Sickle Markets editor: Alexander Rankine Comment editor: Stuart Watkins Politics editor: Emily Hohler Wealth editor: Chris Carter Shares editor: Matthew Partridge Senior digital editor: Kalpana Fitzpatrick Writer/editorial assistan

The Innovative Breakthroughs that Could Change Everything in Women’s Health  Marina Gerner Icon Books, £25 The venture-capital industry prides itself on its record for funding some of the major advances in medicine and technology, but it has a major

The Boy Band Scam Available on Netflix In the 1990s and early 2000s, Lou Pearlman was one of the biggest names in the music industry, and arguably one of the last big pop moguls, before piracy changed the economics of the industry forever. He was t

Investing in the UK has often felt thankless over the past eight years. Our domestic stockmarkets have underperformed since 2016 as global investors have found more enticing alternatives. Our approach in the Rathbone UK Opportunities Fund has been to