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.

Despite a fluctuating geopolitical and policy backdrop, financial markets have remained relatively contained.