How your winning stock-index fund can turn on a dime

Most US investors surveyed could handle basic questions about stocks, bonds and inflation, but their knowledge weakened when leverage, interest-rate risk and other potential sources of loss entered the picture. Only 18% of US investors with assets outside workplace retirement plans demonstrated advanced investment literacy, another 66% demonstrated basic knowledge but did not meet the…

Key takeaway: The personal consumption expenditure index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, increased to 3.7% in July. Supporting data: Core PCE inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 3.3% from a year earlier. What’s at stake: Federal funds futures contracts tracked by CME Group showed Wednesday that just under 60% of…

There’s no shortage of discussion about how we solve the UK’s rental supply crisis. We need more homes, landlords need to keep investing, and renters need access to properties they can actually afford. At the same time, one of the most important sources of rental accommodation is facing increasing restrictions. Houses of multiple occupation (HMOs)…

Han Wang insists his intentions were pure. The 25-year-old cofounder of Mintlify is a prolific X poster, sending off his snippets of management philosophy to the platform’s techies. One of his essays fanned the flames of Silicon Valley’s hardcore workplace debate. He called it: “Remember to not smile.” Wang said that the essay’s lesson was…

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has published a package of reforms for the country’s equity markets, confirming the framework for a future equity consolidated tape while consulting on additional market structure changes. The reforms build on the FCA’s 2023 proposal to introduce a UK consolidated tape, with the regulator initially prioritising bonds before extending the…