Last Updated: September 30, 2025

What if we told you there is a country with some of the most densely populated cities, but fastest trains on earth, with average delays of only 18 seconds? Hardly imaginable, if you travel by train in the UK. What if we told you that country also has one of the most rapidly improving free-market capitalist economies? And its companies are becoming increasingly shareholder friendly? On top of all of that, its stock market looks cheap? You’d probably say we were dreaming.

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

History doesn’t repeat, but it often rhymes. We are fast entering a time of intense scrutiny for the US technology giants. For the past couple of decades, the titans of social media and the internet have created a digital world that has radically altered how we communicate, transact and live. Only 30 years ago, a 15-minute phone call to the other side of the world could cost the better part of a day’s wages. Now you can video call anyone, anywhere for nothing.

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

Many of Europe’s leading stock market indices, including Germany’s DAX, have underperformed other global regions over the past six months. Even before Italy’s recent political crisis, the macro signals had waned. The growth rates of industrial production and new factory orders have declined, conditions in the retail sector have weakened, and the demand from businesses for new loans has fallen.

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

A decision tree for navigating Brexit uncertainty

• Brexit
• Economy

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

Never mind the gloom, the US economy is booming right now. Fresh from a jam-packed trip across the Atlantic, our head of multi-asset investments David Coombs thinks the country’s infrastructure is a bit of a throw-back, but there’s a definite buzz in the air.

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

It seems incredible that a modern metropolis could run out of water, yet this is the threat that major cities in developed and developing nations all around the world are facing. With the balance between demand and supply becoming increasingly fragile, we examine the challenges and implications.

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

There is mounting evidence of the risks facing young people who spend an ever-increasing part of their lives online. The school curriculum has been updated to include guidance on acting safely online, and the government is reviewing ways to control how much time children spend on social media platforms. But what can parents do to reduce the dangers of a digital world? Two experts offer their insights and advice.

• Millennial Matters

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

Copper is the world’s favoured conduit of electrical current. It is also a popular method of tracking the conduit of global trade.

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

For all the talk of fake news, it would be hard to dream up something stranger than the actual events of the past week in the US. And, weirdly, the markets barely shrugged.

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

An obscure British shopping trolley company can be turned into the world’s largest media giant, and then be eclipsed by an upstart tech company toting the motto, “don’t be evil”.

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

European politics is back to its old tricks. Just when you thought the Continent was settling down, two governments started disintegrating over a weekend.
A recent market mantra has been the muted effect of politics on asset prices. That always seemed a bit of a stretch, considering the movements in currency markets and the bull-run of US equities set off by a change in US taxes. It could be said that the steady rise in US Treasury yields were driven in large part by this change in the US political environment. Now ructions in Europe have put the “end of politics” claim to bed.

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

Shrugging off steadily worsening economic data, the FTSE 100 hit a record high of 7,779.5 on Thursday. It has since gone higher this morning and has eclipsed the intra-day record notched up in mid-January, too.