MoneyWeek

Former Italian prime minister and billionaire Silvio Berlusconi (pictured) had collected over 25,000 paintings before his death in June. That inheritance has now become a hassle for his heirs, says Ido Vock on BBC News. Berlusconi “liked to buy portr

Global markets have so far largely shrugged off the Israel-Hamas war, but regional bourses are feeling the strain. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index, the Middle East’s biggest market, has fallen by 5% since the start of October on fears of a wid

“To hear it from Singapore, the global economy is a glass half full. The central bank’s latest assessment [strikes an upbeat tone]… If this hub for trade and capital is right, then the global expansion will live to fight another day… After a strong r

Yields on the US ten-year Treasury bond have topped 5% for the first time since 2007. The ten-year yield hit 5.02% on Monday before falling back. The US ten-year is one of the world’s crucial assets thanks to its liquidity; its price is used as a bas

US oil major Chevron has decided to “double down on fossil fuels”, says Emily Gosden in The Times. It has bought Hess, a smaller rival, in a $53bn all-share deal. The purchase is “the second blockbuster oil and gas takeover this month” following Exxo

In a “mood-defying move”, private equity firm CVC, with €161bn under management, is preparing to float in Amsterdam, say Kaye Wiggins and Will Louch in the Financial Times. The initial public offering (IPO), likely to involve as little as 10% of its

The “stars aligned” for streaming service Netflix last week, says Dan Gallagher in The Wall Street Journal, after it added 8.8 million net new paid subscribers in the third quarter. That is the highest number added in a single quarter since early 202

The Telegraph The miserable ratings applied to many UK shares bode well for this “acquisitive” firm. A distributor of kit such as “gaskets, wiring and seals”, Diploma has snapped up 15 smaller firms in two years. Recent trading has been robust given

Switzerland’s pharmaceutical giant Novartis has become leaner and meaner. It has just spun off its generics division Sandoz to focus on its core business of new drugs, says WirtschaftsWoche. These offer higher margins than knock-offs and boost the va

Swedish electric car-battery maker Northvolt is planning to list its shares in Stockholm, says the Financial Times. It is reportedly preparing an initial public offering (IPO) in 2024 that could value the group at $20bn, which would constitute one of

Wednesday 25 October marked Rishi Sunak’s first year in office. With his “uninspiring attempt” at an autumn “reset”, he has managed to “alienate both One Nation moderates and the Tory right”, says Rachel Cunliffe in The New Statesman. Moderates are d

Argentina’s stock- and bond markets “slumped” when the economy minister, Sergio Massa, emerged as a “surprise frontrunner” in the first round of the country’s presidential election, say Stephen Gibbs and Sam Meadows in The Times. He was portrayed by

The US House of Representatives continues to be effectively “paralysed” by the inability of Republicans to unite behind a constitutionally required replacement for Kevin McCarthy as House speaker, says Lauren Fedor in the Financial Times. Earlier thi

The disastrous Conservative performance at the two by-elections in Mid-Bedfordshire and Tamworth seems to have pushed punters further in the direction of Labour. With £1.5m matched on Betfair, the odds of Labour getting an overall majority at the nex

● It has not been a vintage year for housebuilders, says Jonathan Prynn in the Evening Standard. The latest in a series of profit warnings came from Vistry, which expects a £40m hit to profits as it closes its private housebuilding arm and focuses so

Last week, I said that even though conventional bond yields have risen a long way from their lows, we’re not yet tempted by them for our asset-allocation portfolio, except perhaps very short-dated bonds. We’re not forecasting that rates are going muc

Conventional bonds have a fixed principal – also known as the face value or the par value – that the holder will receive when the bond matures. When inflation is high and maturity is a long way in the future, the real (inflation-adjusted) value of th

The resilience in the global economy is remarkable, says Michael Cembalest, the veteran investment strategist at JPMorgan. “Despite 400-500 basis points of rapid policy tightening in the US and Europe… and despite a very tepid Chinese recovery, globa

EditorialThe Economist By the end of 2024, the Our Future Health research study will be the largest of its kind in the world, says The Economist. The plan is to recruit five million people and get them “weighed, measured, quizzed, genotyped and pheno

“I have often… agreed to a low revenue for social projects that interested me. I have never lived to accumulate assets. I don’t possess any, and not an art collection either. I am not an American-style artist whose success involves success in busines

bondvigilantes.com/blog “Everyone knows that the best way to kill a zombie is to smash its brain,” says Robert Burrows. “For zombie firms, that killer blow is higher interest rates.” So-called zombie companies have long existed on borrowed time: the

spectator.co.uk There was not much Rishi Sunak could have done to salvage HS2, says Rory Sutherland. But there’s no reason why the bits that remain couldn’t still be made into a great railway. “All you need to do is redefine what a railway is for.”

capx.co The Institute for Fiscal Studies gives the impression that the UK government’s spendthrift ways is a result of long-term underlying demographic processes. It isn’t, says Andrew Lilico. The rise in spending happened very quickly. In 2019, we

Shares in Digital 9 Infrastructure, the embattled infrastructure fund, jumped last week after its board appointed Goldman Sachs to develop strategies “focused on maximising shareholder value,” says Citywire. The appointment has ignited speculation th

■ Vanguard has become tangled in a dispute about how the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) enforces rules for fund managers, says Bloomberg. The US money manager’s LifeStrategy range of funds, which collectively oversee £40bn, appear to have breached

Britons with forgotten workplace pensions or individual plans have lost touch with £26bn worth of pension savings, writes David Prosser. The latest data from the Pension Policy Institute reveals that the figure has risen by £7bn over the past four ye

● The government has increased its air-source heat pump grants for homeowners in England and Wales. The size of the grant rose by 50% on Monday to £7,500 “amid criticism about slow adoption of the low-carbon technology,” says Sarah Butler in The Guar

● Thousands of women – and some men – should soon start receiving letters saying they are owed compensation because past failures of administration at the Department for Work and Pension mean they are not receiving their full state-pension entitlemen

With governments around the world seeking to phase out the internal combustion engine, all the major car companies are investing billions in developing electric vehicles. The key emblem of this shift is Tesla, which despite analysts’ widespread scept

Five of my seven long tips have declined over the past fortnight. Broker Clarksons slipped from 2,635p to 2,530p, while discount retailer B&M fell from 565p to 545p. Kitchen supplier Howden Joinery decreased from 695p to 637p; luxury brand Watches of

While tax rises are never popular with the public, their impact on the stockmarket is more complex. The conventional wisdom is that they are bad for share prices for two main reasons. Firstly, all else being equal, raising taxes reduces demand in the

Japan’s delayed reopening and the return of tourists are supporting growth in consumption and demand for services. The economy is also transitioning to a moderately inflationary state as companies are increasing wages and finding it easier to raise p

Vintage groups, from The Monkees to The Spice Girls, bear witness to the power of the manufactured pop band. Mix it up with K-pop, bang it out on TikTok and YouTube, sit back and take the profits. That, at any rate, is the hope of South Korean music

John Legend (pictured) had already long lived up to his (stage) name in the music business, and has enjoyed a “near endless array of hit songs, movie credits and TV shows”, says Daphne Bugler in GQ. Having started out playing piano and singing in nig

£29.50, yapp.co.uk I have followed the wines from Domaine Saint Gayan for over 30 years, and if you surf the Yapp website, you will find a Côtes du Rhône at £14.25, a Sablet at £15.75, a Rasteau at £16.95 and a Gigondas at £22.25. These lusty red win

The revolution in laboratory-grown diamonds suffered its first casualty earlier this month. WD Lab Grown Diamonds, the second-biggest producer in the US, filed for bankruptcy protection. Meanwhile, diamond giant De Beers, having surprised the industr

Going… A fibreglass costume head of C-3PO, the iconic robot from Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), is the star lot of the Propstore’s film memorabilia auction on 9 November in London. It features carefully crafted dents on the forehead, chin and left eye

While fine-wine prices have soured a little this year – down 9.5% in the year to the start of October, according to the Liv-ex Fine Wine 1000 index – that has done little to deter fraudsters, says Mike Sheen on This Is Money. Previously, wine fraud h

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 Deputy digital editor: Ru