juststock/iStock via Getty Images Executive Summary During the fourth quarter, Thrivent Short-Term Bond Fund ( THLIX ) outperformed the Bloomberg Government/Credit 1-3 Year Bond Index by 0.08%. The quarter was marked by significantly diminished spread volatility relative to the previous quarters as trade policies became more well-defined. The Federal (Fed) Funds rate was cut twice by 25 basis poin...
juststock/iStock via Getty Images Executive Summary During the fourth quarter, Thrivent Short-Term Bond Fund ( THLIX ) outperformed the Bloomberg Government/Credit 1-3 Year Bond Index by 0.08%. The quarter was marked by significantly diminished spread volatility relative to the previous quarters as trade policies became more well-defined. The Federal (Fed) Funds rate was cut twice by 25 basis points (bps) during the quarter after recent job market weakness. The market is projecting between 2-3 cuts for all of 2026. The risk rally sputtered slightly in the quarter although corporate spreads remain near 4+ year tights, pricing in little cushion for economic weakness or heightened stress on the consumer. Performance factors Thrivent Short-Term Bond Fund outperformed the Bloomberg Government/Credit 1-3 Year Bond Index by 0.08% during the fourth quarter. This outperformance was largely attributable to an overweight to risk assets and security selection, as despite overall modest spread widening, we benefitted from higher carry. Over the quarter, we modestly increased our exposure to corporates, taking advantage of corporate new issue concessions during a heavy primary calendar notable for sizable AI-related funding. On the securitized side, we increased our allocation to residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) and collateralized loan obligations (CLO), while lowering our allocation to commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) due to strong performance. Our longer duration also contributed to performance as front-end rates were marginally lower over the quarter, with the 2-year Treasury declining 13 basis points to end at 3.48%. Over the 12-month period, the Fund outperformed the Bloomberg Government/Credit 1-3 Year Bond Index by 0.79%. The most significant driver of the Fund’s outperformance was our significant overweight to risk assets, which offered higher carry over the time period. In 2025, 1-3 year corporate spreads widened just 1 bp; however, we were able ...
asbe/iStock via Getty Images By Ezequiel Gomes Silver ( XAGUSD:CUR ) extended its retreat on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, with spot prices trading near $82 after another volatile session erased more of last week’s surge. The metal stayed under pressure as the U.S. dollar pushed higher and Treasury yields firmed, leaving traders focused on whether silver can steady after a two-day washout or remains vu...
asbe/iStock via Getty Images By Ezequiel Gomes Silver ( XAGUSD:CUR ) extended its retreat on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, with spot prices trading near $82 after another volatile session erased more of last week’s surge. The metal stayed under pressure as the U.S. dollar pushed higher and Treasury yields firmed, leaving traders focused on whether silver can steady after a two-day washout or remains vulnerable to another leg lower. Price levels reset after another hard slide The short-term chart has turned sharply more defensive. After closing the prior session near $89, silver moved lower again and traded around $82 during Tuesday’s session, a drop large enough to shift the market away from rebound talk and back toward damage control. The first area that matters now is the band between roughly $81 and $78. That zone lines up with the latest selling low and now acts as the nearest floor. If buyers can keep silver above it, the market may begin to stabilize after a violent repricing. If that zone breaks cleanly, the sell-off would look less like a temporary purge and more like an extension of the broader reversal. On the upside, the first recovery zone sits near $88, followed by the low $90s. A move back through those levels would not fully repair the chart, but it would show that dip-buying is returning after the latest flush lower. Until then, momentum remains fragile and rallies may continue to meet selling pressure. Silver price dynamics (January - February 2026) (Source: TradingView) The dollar takes over as the main near-term driver Currency moves have become central to silver’s tone. The U.S. dollar index rose again on Tuesday, trading around 99 and reaching its highest levels in more than a month, which made silver more expensive for buyers using other currencies and added fresh pressure after Monday’s drop. That stronger dollar has mattered more than safe haven demand in the very short run. Even with geopolitical tension still elevated, the greenback has attracte...
The Premier League wants EFL clubs to agree to cap the compensation fees they pay for signing youngsters from lower-division academies. Under current rules clubs receive compensation for the loss of young players through a combination of fixed training compensation, appearance-based payments and sell-on entitlements, which involves an element of negotiation. If the two parties are unable to agree,...
The Premier League wants EFL clubs to agree to cap the compensation fees they pay for signing youngsters from lower-division academies. Under current rules clubs receive compensation for the loss of young players through a combination of fixed training compensation, appearance-based payments and sell-on entitlements, which involves an element of negotiation. If the two parties are unable to agree, when a player is offered scholarship terms by another club the matter is referred to an independent tribunal, the Professional Football Compensation Committee. The Premier League is understood to have approached the EFL with a proposal to cap the maximum that can be paid, with discussions ongoing. Premier League clubs are also compensated when their players leave for EFL academies, so the change would also cap the fees they receive. The issue is due to be discussed by the EFL clubs at their divisional meetings on Wednesday as part of a wider debate on youth development, although the proposal is not expected to be put to a vote at this stage. Premier League clubs have been increasingly targeting players from lower-division academies, a trend many in the sport have attributed to the impact of Brexit. Since the UK left the EU in 2020 it has become more difficult for British clubs to sign under-18s from Europe, because they are no longer eligible for governing body endorsements, which has led to increased demand for English youngsters. The EFL clubs will also discuss whether to implement their own version of the Premier League’s new squad cost ratio rules, which will cap spending on player costs at 85% of turnover, before voting on Thursday on whether to expand the Championship playoffs to six teams next season. Quick Guide How do I sign up for sport breaking news alerts? Show Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'. If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent v...
Many tech companies survive without contracts with the federal government. Anthropic’s standoff with the Pentagon has snowballed into the AI company being effectively banned from doing business with any federal agency, at least according to a missive fired off by President Trump on Friday. Anthropic says it will challenge that designation in court.
Many tech companies survive without contracts with the federal government. Anthropic’s standoff with the Pentagon has snowballed into the AI company being effectively banned from doing business with any federal agency, at least according to a missive fired off by President Trump on Friday. Anthropic says it will challenge that designation in court.
Khanchit Khirisutchalual/iStock via Getty Images Overview International equities broadly posted positive returns in the fourth quarter of 2025, capping a strong year in which they outperformed their U.S. counterparts, supported by fiscal stimulus and robust earnings growth in Europe and Japan. Within international equities, value stocks outperformed their growth peers for both the quarter and the ...
Khanchit Khirisutchalual/iStock via Getty Images Overview International equities broadly posted positive returns in the fourth quarter of 2025, capping a strong year in which they outperformed their U.S. counterparts, supported by fiscal stimulus and robust earnings growth in Europe and Japan. Within international equities, value stocks outperformed their growth peers for both the quarter and the calendar year. The Chinese market was an outlier, declining on signs of softening growth, government stimulus efforts that were less vigorous than hoped for, and a resurgence in U.S.-China trade friction. U.S. equities posted modest gains in the quarter on continued resilient economic growth, strong corporate earnings results, and inflation that has largely remained below an annualized rate of 3%. The U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) continued to ease policy, cutting rates by a quarter of a percentage point at its meetings in September, October and December and announcing an end to the multi-year effort to reduce the size of its balance sheet. Stocks also remained supported by ongoing excitement surrounding the artificial intelligence (( AI) ) theme, albeit with a brief stretch of concern in November that AI-related equities were in a "bubble." The Wasatch Global Value Fund—Investor Class returned 4.31% in the fourth quarter of 2025, outperforming the MSCI AC (All Country) World Value Index, which returned 3.66%. Contributions to the Fund's results relative to the benchmark were led by the better performance of our holdings in the communication-services, consumer-staples and information-technology sectors, while the Fund's positioning within utilities and real estate weighed most heavily on relative performance. For calendar year 2025, the Fund returned 30.91% versus 21.98% for the benchmark. We're pleased with the Fund's positive relative performance, which was driven by our selection of holdings, most notably in the consumer-staples, financials, consumer-discretionary and healt...
Ticketmaster keeps an average of $7.58 of the price of each ticket for events at major concert venues, an attorney for New York state told jurors at a trial on Tuesday in which dozens of states are seeking to recoup damages for fans. Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, are accused of abusing their market power to prop up illegal monopolies in the concert industry. The trial in Manhat...
Ticketmaster keeps an average of $7.58 of the price of each ticket for events at major concert venues, an attorney for New York state told jurors at a trial on Tuesday in which dozens of states are seeking to recoup damages for fans. Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, are accused of abusing their market power to prop up illegal monopolies in the concert industry. The trial in Manhattan could result in the US Department of Justice arguing for a breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster or the companies paying compensation to ticket purchasers. The DoJ and the attorneys general of New York and 38 other states plus Washington DC claim the entertainment conglomerate dominates live-event markets in ways that hurt artists, venues and fans. “Today, the concert ticket industry is broken, in fact the concert industry itself is broken,” DoJ attorney David Dahlquist told jurors in his opening statement. “It is controlled by a monopolist. It is controlled by Live Nation.” Ticketmaster keeps more in fees than competitors such as AXS, according to an expert’s estimate cited by Jonathan Hatch, an attorney for New York state. Fans in the states seeking damages are estimated to have overpaid between $1.56 and $1.72 for tickets, Hatch said. “We are talking about real money coming out of people’s wallets,” he said. Live Nation attorney David Marriott told jurors that Ticketmaster takes about 5% of what fans pay for tickets. The company is not a monopolist and faces fierce competition across the industry, he said. “Every customer we get is a hard-fought battle in a competitive marketplace,” he said. Singer Kid Rock and Ben Lovett of the band Mumford & Sons are expected to testify at the trial, as are executives from rival ticketing companies and venues, including Madison Square Garden. The DoJ alleges in the case filed in 2024 that Live Nation holds illegal monopolies in certain venue and ticketing markets. Live Nation is accused of requiring artists to use its concert pro...
Manulife Global Head of Private Markets, Anne Valentine Andrews, Goldman Sachs Global Co-Head of Private Credit, Vivek Bantwal and Blackstone Global Head of Private Credit Strategies, Brad Marshall examine the growing retail access in private credit, the risks introduced by broader distribution and what's ahead with Bloomberg’s Dani Burger at Bloomberg Invest 2026 in New York. (Source: Bloomberg)
Manulife Global Head of Private Markets, Anne Valentine Andrews, Goldman Sachs Global Co-Head of Private Credit, Vivek Bantwal and Blackstone Global Head of Private Credit Strategies, Brad Marshall examine the growing retail access in private credit, the risks introduced by broader distribution and what's ahead with Bloomberg’s Dani Burger at Bloomberg Invest 2026 in New York. (Source: Bloomberg)
His credits range from Men Behaving Badly to Wuthering Heights, and now he’s playing Huw Edwards. What would you dearly love to know about the actor and documentary presenter? It’s delightful that Martin Clunes has won so many plaudits for his performance in this year’s Wuthering Heights, alongside Margot Robbie’s Cathy and Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliff. He plays Cathy’s drunk but generous, cruel yet ...
His credits range from Men Behaving Badly to Wuthering Heights, and now he’s playing Huw Edwards. What would you dearly love to know about the actor and documentary presenter? It’s delightful that Martin Clunes has won so many plaudits for his performance in this year’s Wuthering Heights, alongside Margot Robbie’s Cathy and Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliff. He plays Cathy’s drunk but generous, cruel yet humorous father in a part that could easily have drifted into the background. But he makes such an impression that the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw reckons he “ pretty much pinches the whole film ”. It’s not as if Clunes hasn’t brushed shoulders with the Hollywood A-list before. You might remember him as Richard Burbage, opposite Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes and Judi Dench, in 1998’s Shakespeare in Love – a role with added resonance given that his father, Alec Clunes, who died when Clunes was eight, was a distinguished Shakespearean actor. Other roles include 1992’s Carry On Columbus (the last ever Carry On); 1994’s Staggered (which he also directed), in which he wakes up naked on a remote Scottish island after a stag do gone wrong; and 1999’s Hunting Venus, where he reunites with his former on-screen flatmate Neil Morrissey, as a washed-up 80s New Romantic, sporting a flopped quiff that puts even A Flock of Seagulls to shame. Continue reading...
Schools in England are moving away from pupils dressing up as their favourite literary characters for World Book Day, with experts telling MPs they feared the costs of costumes undermined efforts to increase reading for pleasure. Jonathan Douglas, chief executive of the National Literacy Trust, said schools were aware of the strains that preparing costumes could place on disadvantaged families, te...
Schools in England are moving away from pupils dressing up as their favourite literary characters for World Book Day, with experts telling MPs they feared the costs of costumes undermined efforts to increase reading for pleasure. Jonathan Douglas, chief executive of the National Literacy Trust, said schools were aware of the strains that preparing costumes could place on disadvantaged families, telling MPs on the Commons’ education select committee: “Many schools are incredibly sensitive to that, and are taking away the narrative around dressing-up on World Book Day.” This year’s World Book Day in the UK and Ireland is on Thursday, with many primary schools encouraging children to take part. But Douglas warned that activities such as dressing-up should not detract from the promotion of reading. “The whole point of this is that reading for pleasure is a driver of social mobility. Children’s reading for pleasure by the age of 15 is more strongly determinative of their ultimate attainment than their socio-economic background. Therefore anything that takes away from it, as not simply a driver of social mobility but actually an anti-poverty strategy, is undermining the power of reading for pleasure,” Douglas said. Helen Hayes, the committee’s chair, said World Book Day was “a wonderful national moment” but the dressing up element favoured “families who have greater resources than others, in their ability to source a costume”. Annie Crombie, co-chief executive of BookTrust, the children’s reading charity, told Hayes: “We see that a lot [of schools] are introducing costume swaps or making items to dress up with in art lessons, so there are ways around it. But it is incredibly important because otherwise it risks exacerbating the factors we know, around stresses on home life, getting in the way of reading being embedded in the first place.” The World Book Day charity said: “We want to make sure that all children, regardless of household income, can take part in World Book D...
peshkov/iStock via Getty Images Goldman Sachs Research has put fresh numbers around the macroeconomic impact of the oil shock induced by the deepening war in Iran. Crude oil prices ( CO1:COM ) ( CL1:COM ) are going vertical as the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict continued to rattle markets and led to a disruption in the traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for global energy supplies. ...
peshkov/iStock via Getty Images Goldman Sachs Research has put fresh numbers around the macroeconomic impact of the oil shock induced by the deepening war in Iran. Crude oil prices ( CO1:COM ) ( CL1:COM ) are going vertical as the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict continued to rattle markets and led to a disruption in the traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for global energy supplies. "Our oil strategists assume the large disruptions to prove temporary and oil prices to decline throughout the year. But risks are skewed to the upside" amid uncertainty surrounding the length of the Middle East conflict, analyst Jessica Rindels wrote in a recent note to clients. Rindels estimated that each $10-per-barrel rise in oil prices would lower Q4 2026 U.S. gross domestic product growth by about 0.1 percentage point "if prices stabilize at a higher level. This estimate reflects a drag on consumption from lower real disposable income, partially offset by higher energy capex." "But shorter-lived disruptions—as expected by our oil strategists—should result in a smaller drag on GDP growth of less than 0.05pp," she added. Quarterly GDP growth was already slowing ahead of the Middle East conflict. On inflation, a sustained 10% rise in oil prices is estimated to boost the core U.S. Consumer Price Index by four basis points and headline CPI by 28 bps. The core measure strips out volatile food and energy costs. Goldman's base case is for headline CPI to rise to +2.7% Y/Y in May from +2.4% in January before retreating to 2.0% by December 2026. Meanwhile, a more persistent increase in oil prices—a key concern as it relates to the Federal Reserve's interest-rate path—could bring headline CPI to +3.0% in May and stay elevated for the rest of the year. Energy exchange-traded funds: ( XLE ), ( AMLP ), ( VDE ), ( XOP ), ( OIH ), and ( IXC ). Goldman Sachs More on Brent Futures, Crude Oil Futures U.S.-Iran War: 2 Worrying Charts That Investors Can No Longer Ignore Macro Insights: Ope...
Live football is currently happening in Turkey, where England have just taken the lead against Ukraine through Alessia Russo. Follow that Women’s World Cup qualifier here: Tonight, a trio of northern powerhouses are looking to secure a Big Three Points in fixtures they are odds-on to win. Leeds are aiming to scramble closer to safety with victory over Sunderland, who have won two of 14 on the road...
Live football is currently happening in Turkey, where England have just taken the lead against Ukraine through Alessia Russo. Follow that Women’s World Cup qualifier here: Tonight, a trio of northern powerhouses are looking to secure a Big Three Points in fixtures they are odds-on to win. Leeds are aiming to scramble closer to safety with victory over Sunderland, who have won two of 14 on the road this season. Heading along the M62, Everton fans will see Burnley’s visit as the perfect chance for the team to improve their patchy form at the Hill Dickinson Stadium. In the later game, Liverpool head to Molineux, where victory is a must and offers the chance for Arne Slot’s side to go third. Of course, we can’t overlook the fact that rock-bottom Wolves have beaten Villa and drawn with Arsenal in their last two home games; nor should we ignore Burnley collecting four points from their last two away trips, or Sunderland picking up a point at the Vitality last time out. Speaking of which, if anyone would care to try and predict the outcome of Bournemouth (six wins, six draws at home) v Brentford (six wins, six defeats away from home), then be my guest. Team news to follow shortly.
He said: "I think one of the reasons Gary played at the Labour club of all places was the fact that his dad races pigeons, and there is a pigeon racing club built onto the side of the the club."
He said: "I think one of the reasons Gary played at the Labour club of all places was the fact that his dad races pigeons, and there is a pigeon racing club built onto the side of the the club."