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Stock market highs don’t feel so high. Even though global stocks reached another all-time, the mood feels subdued. This is partly seasonal – a US national holiday and June’s option expiry date distorted trading – but partly because growth is so uneven....

Still mostly sticking to the plan Amid a cacophony of political noise, it was the Federal Reserve’s updated interest rate forecast that drove markets last week. The signal that rates would be cut just once this year was called “hawkish”, but we...

ECB’s Lagarde makes rate cut history Rate cuts at last. The ECB delivered a 25 basis point cut last week, as expected, and markets got excited about easier monetary policy again. ECB president Lagarde spoke about “dialling back” now that inflation is...

Markets Consolidate Global stocks were slightly down last week, but with no obvious trigger. It felt like consolidation through month-end rebalancing, after many stock markets hit all-time highs in May. In that respect, the week’s action was reassuring: previous returns solidified, and...