European shares sag on Tehran’s Hormuz zone plan and imminent ECB hike

The choice between iShares MSCI World ETF (URTH -0.29%) and Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO -0.44%) hinges on the preference for developed-market stability versus lower-cost emerging-market potential. These two funds offer global equity exposure but occupy different corners of the world map. While the iShares fund focuses on established economies, the Vanguard fund tracks…

The number of mortgage loans originated fell by 50% between 2021 and 2025, with refinancings down by almost 80%, as interest rates spiked off the record lows of the pandemic era. Processing Content But making up the gap was gains in home equity/second mortgage lending, which in 2025 now represented an “unprecedented” 17.5% share of…

Among the more popular indicators monitored by Wall Street’s technical strategists, the “Hindenburg Omen” definitely has the coolest name — and is among the more controversial.

Amazon’s decision this week to scale back parts of its homegrown artificial intelligence portfolio has been taken by the marketplace as a retreat from the frontier-model competition. That’s only partly true. Amazon appears to be abandoning the most expensive and least defensible layer of the AI stack in order to strengthen the businesses where it…

Market Notice This Market Notice covers changes to the Bank’s collateral eligibility framework for the Sterling Monetary Framework (SMF). This is in the context of supporting the transition to a repo-led, demand-driven operating framework for supplying central bank reserves and is in part motivated by feedback received in response to the related Discussion Paper.   The changes in…

There is a line in Lane Clark and Peacock’s (LCP’s) latest report on being single in retirement that should make all of us in the sector take note, which is: “The best antidote to poverty in retirement is to be part of a couple.” According to the report, the poverty rate among pensioner couples…