The US central bank surprised markets with another 0.75% rise in rates. There is little comfort for investors in the move.

The pound has seen further weakness, maintaining a pattern seen for most of the year. Can it fall further?

Corporate earnings held up reasonably well in the second quarter, but there are increasing jitters about their direction from here. Could earnings weakness prompt markets to lurch lower?

Despite an increasingly clouded economic backdrop, share prices around the world generally rose during July. Investor sentiment was buoyed by encouraging US earnings reports and by hopes that central banks might moderate their tightening activity in order to avoid undermining economic growth.

The first six months of 2022 may have seen all asset classes sell off, but diversification has still helped preserve investors’ returns.