Investing Insights

From cuts to hikes: interest rate expectations shift sharply

Investors began 2026 expecting interest rates to fall. By September, stronger-than-expected growth and persistent inflation had forced central banks to rethink the path ahead. Renewed expectations of rate hikes caused bond yields to rise sharply, which put pressure on bond prices (when yields rise the price of existing bonds fall) particularly in the US, where bond yields rose most noticeably.

What Good Looks Like: Strong Charity Investment Governance in Practice

Good investment governance rarely announces itself with great fanfare. More often, it looks rather ordinary: trustees who understand what their money is there to do, an investment policy people have actually read, advisers who speak to one another and a board that feels comfortable asking questions when something doesn't quite make sense.

Understanding factor investing: what's really driving your portfolio returns?

When we look at an investment portfolio, it is natural to focus on the individual companies it owns. However, knowing which stocks are in a portfolio only tells us part of the story. To understand what is really driving its returns, it can be more useful to look at the characteristics those investments have in common.