TWM Financial Planning

In John Healey's major speech since becoming chancellor, and ahead of his first Budget, he sought to create a sense of optimism. However, rumours about thousands of job losses at Jaguar Land Rover (later confirmed) swirled before his speech, highlighting the challenges still faced.

Read more: https://www.twmfinancialplanning.co.uk/article/detail/sjpp/weekwatch-07-09-2026

This content is for information only and does not constitute financial or legal advice. The value of investments may fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you invested.

Peter Jenkins and Tom Smith are running the Oxford Half Marathon on behalf of Be Free Young Carers in October and are now on the campaign trail to raise funds and to also get their training going.

Please sponsor the guys and help raise funds for the children being supported by Be Free Young Carers.

TWM Financial Planning fundraising for Be Free Young Carers Help Peter Jenkins raise money to support Be Free Young Carers

Fed chair Warsh tees up rate hikes to ease inflation pressures

Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh voiced concerns over stubborn inflation in the US economy during his keynote speech at last week’s Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium.

Warsh was “impressed by the overall performance of the economy”. He pointed to the resilience of Main Street and Wall Street. This included rapidly rising business investment – largely into AI-related technologies – and 20% higher profitability across S&P 500-listed companies in the last year alone. But with inflation running above its 2% target for 65 months, he was clear the Fed’s primary focus should be on stabilising prices.

Nearly half the goods and services in the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) basket showed price increases of more than 3%. Recent commodity price increases due to tensions around supply chains, investment flow and geopolitics remained worrisome.

What does it mean? While stressing his remarks were not forward guidance, responsibility for price stability sits squarely with the central bank. And if underlying inflation did not come closer to target soon, he said the Fed had “work to do”. For some, this could imply a teeing-up of future rate hikes.

According to CME Group's FedWatch, the likelihood of a rate hike at the Fed's next meeting (15-16 September) increased to 66.1% – nearly double where it was before Friday's speech.

The US dollar index rose 0.46% to 99.57 on Friday afternoon. US equity markets were largely unmoved and short-term Treasury yields ticked higher, from around 4.23% before the speech to 4.32% shortly afterwards.

Read more: https://www.twmfinancialplanning.co.uk/article/detail/sjpp/weekwatch-01-09-2026

This content is for information only and does not constitute financial or legal advice. The value of investments may fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you invested.

What happens when AI gets a body?

Unitree Robotics, a Chinese maker of humanoid robots, staged a successful listing in Shanghai last week, with its share price rising 460% on its first day of trading. The company recently unveiled “Superman”, able to jump two metres and run at over twelve metres per second. While profitable, traditional metrics reveal Unitree to be highly valued, trading on a historic price-earnings ratio of 900x and a price-to-sales ratio of 147x. Despite this, the company’s $50 billion-plus value reflects high expectations as investor attention in AI widens beyond software-based large language models (LLMs), semiconductors and cloud storage to physical applications.

Read more: https://www.twmfinancialplanning.co.uk/article/detail/sjpp/weekwatch-24-08-2026

AI earnings help fuel record S&P 500

The S&P 500 reached a record high this week buoyed by low US producer and consumer inflation readings in July indicating inflationary pressures are being contained. A stream of strong AI earnings releases reinforced bullish sentiment.

Although markets are indicating a near 70% chance that the US central bank will keep interest rates at their current level next month, SJP’s Chief Economist Hetal Mehta notes the recent inflation breakdown shows “quite a big jump in the price of computers and other AI-related equipment. This AI buildout isn’t necessarily all positive for the economy.” A further cloud was that US retail sales data for July was weaker than expected but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq still managed to end the week in positive territory on receding rate hike expectations.

Read more: https://www.twmfinancialplanning.co.uk/article/detail/sjpp/weekwatch-17-08-2026

This content is for information only and does not constitute financial or legal advice. The value of investments may fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you invested.

Weathering the drought

While opinions may vary on whether the current hot, dry summer is nicer than Britain’s typical grey and drizzly experience, its effects on farming are less up for debate.

According to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), the heat has encouraged the spread of Bluetongue (a disease that particularly affects sheep) across southwest England. At the same time, several crops – such as winter wheat – are experiencing notably poor yields. Lower food production are likely to translate to inflationary pressures, though the extent of this may take time to fully materialise.

The weather situation is equally tough on mainland Europe. As well as the humanitarian costs, the wildfires that spread through France and Spain are estimated to have cost billions of euros in damages. Meanwhile, low water levels in rivers such as the Rhine have meant commercial shipping vessels have had to lighten their cargo.

So far, however, the weather hasn’t put too much of a dampener on equities. Both UK and EU markets are trading at, or near, all-time highs on the back of strong company results and optimism around a potential deal with Iran.

Read more: https://www.twmfinancialplanning.co.uk/article/detail/sjpp/weekwatch-10-08-2026

This content is for information only and does not constitute financial or legal advice. The value of investments may fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you invested.

Concerns about AI valuations and Chinese competition contributed to a 5.8% decline for the US Nasdaq 100 in July. In contrast, Europe’s STOXX 600 ended at a record high, reflecting the region’s more defensive and value-focused opportunities.

The price of Brent crude oil rose 23% over the month as the US and Iran both hardened their negotiating positions going into the sixth month of war.

Central banks in the UK, US and Japan kept interest rates on hold. In the US, long-term bond yields rose as investors reacted to the Fed’s new ‘no guidance’ policy.

Read more: https://www.twmfinancialplanning.co.uk/article/detail/sjpp/weekwatch-03-08-2026

This content is for information only and does not constitute financial or legal advice. The value of investments may fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you invested.

Peter Jenkins and Tom Smith are running the Oxford Half Marathon on behalf of Be Free Young Carersn October and are now on the campaign trail to raise funds and to also get their training going.

Pete has already covered 75km 🏃 in recent weeks while has Tom eaten and drunk his way through 10 days of all inclusive 🍹 🥐

Please sponsor the guys and help raise funds for the children being supported by Be Free Young Carers.

TWM Financial Planning fundraising for Be Free Young Carers Help Peter Jenkins raise money to support Be Free Young Carers

There are early signs of change in how younger women are engaging with financial planning.

St. James’s Place’s Women and Wealth report, carried out by Opinium, shows that 44% of women aged 18–34 have a financial plan in place, compared with lower levels among older age groups.

The findings suggest a shift in engagement that may develop over time, although the overall picture remains mixed. Read the full report: https://www.sjp.co.uk/individuals/how-can-we-help/tools-information/financial-health-report

On behalf of St. James’s Place, Opinium surveyed 6,000 UK adults between 17 March and 9 April 2026. The data is weighted to be representative of the UK adult population.

TWM Financial Planning is an Appointed Representative of and represents only St. James's Place Wealth Management plc (authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority).

SJP Approved 22/06/2026

Andy Burnham topped the British political landscape last week, becoming the country’s seventh prime minister in ten years.

As part of his government reshuffle, Burnham brought former defence minister John Healey in to replace Rachel Reeves as chancellor. Healey’s political career goes back to the 90s, including posts in the Treasury. Earlier this year, his resignation from the Cabinet over perceived insufficient funding for the defence ministry was seen as speeding up Sir Kier Starmer’s downfall.

The reality is Burnham and Healey face the same issues as their predecessors, including high levels of national debt, sticky inflation and low productivity growth going back years. Burnham has confirmed his government will stick to existing fiscal rules, which currently offer little wiggle room for a chancellor to exploit. After a few relatively low level ‘giveaways’ in the first week, all eyes will be on the Autumn Budget for a more concrete feel of the direction of the government may now take.

Burnham’s first week in the role was greeted with some unexpectedly good news. UK inflation dropped to 2.6% in June, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics. This was below both the 2.8% recorded in May, and the 2.7% generally expected by economists.

Read more: https://www.twmfinancialplanning.co.uk/article/detail/sjpp/weekwatch-27-07-2026

This content is for information only and does not constitute financial or legal advice. The value of investments may fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you invested.