Following in the footsteps of David Solomon at Goldman Sachs and Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan, Ark Investments guru Cathie Wood recently warned of the potential for a reality check for the stock market after the massive Artificial Intelligence rally that has driven the major indices to all-time highs over the last three years. Of course, "Reality Check" is Wall Street word salad for a sell-off and a potential correction.
In the short term, risk appetite has strengthened thanks to recent progress in trade relations between the U.S. and Asian economies. President Donald Trump's visit to South Korea, and his expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his Asia tour, have helped ease concerns about potential tariff escalations. Markets are now hopeful that such a bilateral meeting could lay the groundwork for a large-scale investment package or a new trade agreement, thereby reducing the risk of prolonged trade frictions.
Over halfway through: In its H1 results in June Barclays highlighted the midpoint of its 3-year revamp and noted it had achieved over half (£17bn) of the c.£30bn planned UK risk weighted assets (RWAs) growth, half of the target income growth and realised two-thirds of the £2bn planned gross cost efficiency savings. Group income of £14.9bn was up 12% year-on-year, with group net interest income (NII) up 13% to £6.1bn.
Not every dividend ETF you buy needs to be boring. The vast majority of dividend ETFs you hold should certainly be ones that compound reliably over decades , but it's also worth buying up those that have significant upside potential while paying you to wait for those gains. The current environment is perfect for going shopping for such dividend ETFs.
Considering the current mortgage rate of around 6.41% in September 2025, and knowing that rates were half as much 10-15 years ago, it's becoming increasingly hard to convince anyone that buying a house right now is a good idea. This uncertainty has led individuals like this Redditor, who purchased a home with a high mortgage rate and is now deciding whether or not refinancing is a good option.
