From a struggling UK Service Sector to the Graduate Jobs Crisis. Here’s what stood out from the last 7 days.

TOP HEADLINE

Retail investors just claimed the top spot in the UK investment trust market  and they’re not giving it up. According to Warhorse Partners’ latest State of the Nation report, individual investors now hold £50.5bn worth of investment trusts, a 37% share of the entire market. Five years ago, that figure was £40.3bn and 34%. So what’s driving the shift? Lower interest rates, better dividends, and trusts finally getting their communications act together. Meanwhile, wealth managers and institutions are quietly trimming their positions. If you hold investment trusts — or you’re thinking about it — here’s what the shift means.

FEATURED BUSINESS NEWS

Forget AI hype and trillion-dollar valuations. In 2025, the best-performing stocks weren’t Silicon Valley’s finest — they were a handful of decidedly unglamorous British companies. Analysts at Rathbones have coined them the “Fusty 5”: Aviva, NatWest, Marks & Spencer, Centrica, and Imperial Brands. Dull? Absolutely. Profitable? Very much so. While the Magnificent 7 stumbled under the weight of macro headwinds and a cratering dollar, these London-listed stalwarts quietly delivered returns that left their US counterparts in the dust.

MARKETS NEWS

Hong Kong is back and it’s got the numbers to prove it. HKEX, the city’s stock exchange operator, just posted its second consecutive year of record profits, with net profit jumping 36% to HK$17.8bn (£1.7bn) in 2025. After a bruising 2023 slump, Hong Kong has clawed its way back to become the world’s second most active IPO destination — behind only the US. If that doesn’t signal a comeback, i’m not sure what does.

FEATURED CRYPTO NEWS

The US Supreme Court just nuked Trump’s global tariffs and markets noticed. In a landmark 6–3 ruling, the Court declared that sweeping import duties imposed under emergency powers were flat-out illegal. Bitcoin jumped, the S&P 500 popped, and for a brief moment, risk appetite was back. But as any seasoned trader knows, relief rallies have a habit of fading fast. Here’s what actually happened, what it means for crypto, and why the story isn’t over yet.

THAT’S ALL FOLKS

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