Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Meta is looking to raise $29bn to fund its all-in push into artificial intelligence, turning to private capital firms to finance its build out of data centres in the US.Talks between the Instagram-owner and private credit investors have advanced, with several large players including Apollo Global Management, KKR, Brookfield, Carlyle and Pimco involved in the discussions, according to people familiar with the matter. Meta is hoping to raise $3bn of equity from them and then a further $26bn of debt. But it…
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Water seeks its own level, and so does money. When cash becomes plentiful in the financial system, scarce digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC 0.21%) and XRP (XRP 0.10%) often move sharply higher. Looking toward 2026, there are five macroeconomic forces that appear ready to remove several roadblocks that have held crypto back during the past two years. XRP and Bitcoin are likely to go higher as a result. Here’s why each matters. 1. Liquidity is rising again Think of liquidity as the total pool of spendable cash in the global economy. When central banks add money to their respective…
It is mid-2025, and I find it astounding that many investors still have a daily SIP or a weekly SIP running! I cannot understand who or what influenced them to do so. However, I can assure you that there are no special benefits to running a daily or weekly SIP compared to a monthly, quarterly, or even annual SIP.First of all, there is no “averaging benefit” from ANY SIP. A SIP does not help you get better returns or lower risk in any way. It is just an automated way of purchasing mutual fund units at a defined frequency. See:…
We first wrote in this column about the impending crisis in the Social Security trust fund in 2012. Back then, the trustees of the program estimated that the money would run out in 2033. Fortunately, that gave Congress a full 21 years to address the deficit and put the program back on solid footing.Fast-forward to the latest report on the health of Social Security and Medicare, released two weeks ago. The trustees now project that the programs will go broke in — wait for it — 2033, now just nine years away. Because so much time has elapsed with no…
The iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG -0.28%) is a suitable option for investors seeking bond exposure in their portfolios. That said, the Vanguard Total Corporate Bond ETF (VTC -0.13%) is a better option for long-term investors on a risk/reward basis. Here’s why. The iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF The stated aim of this ETF is to “track the investment results of an index composed of the total U.S. investment-grade bond market.” As such, it holds high-quality debt deemed to have a relatively low default risk. Based on S&P Global’s ratings, the ETF currently holds just 12.07% of…
The European Commission is set to propose allowing carbon credits from other countries to count towards the EU’s 2040 climate target, according to a leaked internal document. The European Commission plans to include carbon credits from abroad in the European Union’s 2040 climate target, a move aimed at easing the emissions cuts required from EU industries. A draft summary of the upcoming proposal, seen by Reuters, shows the Commission intends to allow “high-quality international credits” from a U.N.-backed carbon market to cover up to 3 percent of the EU’s emissions cuts. The credits would be phased in from 2036, with…
Personal finance expert Suze Orman says she’s confident the stock market is headed higher, despite some alarming signs in the broader economy. In her recent video, she acknowledged that things feel unstable right now, but urged her audience to stay calm and take a long-term view. “There is something going on in this economy that I really don’t like,” Orman said, citing how traditional patterns are breaking. Typically, when markets drop, investors move into bonds, causing bond prices to rise and interest rates to fall. But that hasn’t been happening. “Interest rates in bonds went up and up and up,”…
Image source: Getty Images One myth about the stock market is that it takes a lot of money for someone to start buying shares. In fact, it is possible to do so with just a few hundred pounds. I actually think there are good reasons to consider doing so. One is that it means someone can be in the market sooner, rather than waiting years or perhaps even decades before they have saved up a large tum to get going. From the perspective of a long-term investor, a longer timeframe can offer a potentially sizeable advantage. Most people make some…
Image source: Getty Images This week I bought some more shares in a FTSE 100 company that already features heavily in my portfolio. In fact, although I always want to keep my portfolio diversified, I decided that topping up my holding in this company when the share price looked particularly cheap could potentially prove to be a lucrative move. The FTSE 100 share in question is JD Sports (LSE: JD). Why am I so excited about it? Legendary investor Warren Buffett talks about buying into great companies at attractive prices. In my opinion, JD Sports currently ticks both those boxes.…
Image source: Getty Images One simple but common way to earn passive income is to buy shares that pay dividends. Dividends are never guaranteed, so this is not a surefire scheme. But I think it is possible to set up passive income streams with a fairly high sense of confidence in them lasting – by buying a diversified mix of shares in high-quality companies. To illustrate, if someone wanted to target £10,000 a year in passive income, here is how they could go about it. Getting ready to invest One practical step upfront would be to set up a way…