Events in the Middle East continue to influence economic policy, with central banks revisiting future rate moves as the oil price returns to pre-conflict levels.

As investors look ahead to the second half of 2026, the market backdrop appears somewhat less fraught than it did during the first six months of the year.

Larry the long-serving 10 Downing Street cat is set to welcome yet another UK prime minister, the seventh in a decade. Elsewhere, there was a repricing of interest rate risk on hawkish noises from central banks.