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Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
ATFX Connect Appoints Professor Trevor Williams as Consultant Economist
ATFX Connect Appoints Professor Trevor Williams as Consultant Economist LONDON, Aug. 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ATFX Connect, the institutional arm of ATFX, is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Trevor Williams as its Consultant Economist. This strategic move underscores ATFX Connect's commitment to delivering expert-driven macroeconomic insights and analysis to its growing base of institutional clients. As Consultant Economist, Professor Williams will deliver economic commentary and strategic insights to strengthen ATFX Connect's thought leadership. His involvement will enhance the company's institutional positioning and equip clients with deeper insights into today's fast-evolving economic landscape. A Respected Voice in Global Macroeconomics With a distinguished career in the finance industry, Professor Williams has held several senior roles across banking and policy institutions. He served as Chief Economist at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, one of the UK's largest banks, for over 10 years. In addition, he serves as the Rotating Chairman of the Institute of Economic Affairs Shadow Monetary Policy Committee (SMPC), a group of independent economists who offer alternative views on the UK monetary policy. Commenting on his new role, Professor Williams, said: 'I'm delighted to be joining ATFX Connect as Consultant Economist at such an exciting time in global markets. I look forward to contributing economic insight and thought leadership to support our institutional, retail and other partners to deepen engagement across the financial landscape. I'm grateful to the excellent team at ATFX Connect for the opportunity.' On welcoming Professor Williams, Wei Qiang Zhang, Managing Director of ATFX Connect, expressed: 'We're pleased to welcome Professor Trevor Williams as our Consultant Economist. His extensive knowledge of the economy and markets will provide our clients with valuable insights and practical guidance to navigate global market trends with confidence. This appointment further strengthens ATFX Connect's position as a trusted partner for institutional clients.' A Shared Vision Ahead With Professor Williams onboard, ATFX Connect is well-positioned to further enhance its institutional capabilities and deliver deeper economic insight to better support its clients. Both parties are aligned in their commitment to making a meaningful impact and look forward to an inspiring partnership ahead. About ATFX Connect ATFX Connect is a trading name of AT Global Markets (UK) Limited (authorised and regulated by the FCA), AT Global Markets (Australia) Pty Limited (authorised and regulated by ASIC), and AT Global Financial Services (HK) Limited (authorised and regulated by the SFC). Connect is the Institutional arm of the wider ATFX Group. ATFX Connect offers Institutional and Professional traders an extensive range of services for both Agency PB and Margin accounts, provides bespoke aggregated liquidity in Spot FX, NDFs, indices, Commodities and Precious metals to a wide range of institutional clients from hedge funds, Tier 1 and regional banks, high net worth investors, asset managers, family offices and other brokers. ATFX Connect's liquidity pool is constructed from Tier 1 banks and non-bank providers that it has partnered with, trading in both sweepable and full amount forms. Agency PB Clients can connect via direct FIX API, external technology solutions or via our own trading platform. For margin clients, ATFX Connect provides market access via the group's MT4/MT5 platform and provides a bridge solution for those who wish to connect via FIX API. For further information on ATFX Connect, please visit ATFX Connect website A photo accompanying this announcement is available at CONTACT: Media Contact: in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Times
American TV adverts have restored my faith in Britain
I bring good news from across the Pond — things are not as bad as they could be. I am drawing this conclusion not from a forensic analysis of the political and economic situation in which we find ourselves. I'm drawing it from an ad break I watched in California at the weekend. It's enough. The break began with someone who looked very happy with his new car. The car was made in Japan — Maga boo! — but it was assembled entirely in Michigan — Maga hurrah! — and for just $399 a month I could be very happy too. Next, why not consolidate all my debts into one big debt, asked the debt-consolidation company. It did not suggest not buying a new car in the first place. Then came three fast-food ads — a bigger burger at a lower price, a whole tray of tacos for just $7.99 and what looked like a $10 wheelbarrow of ribs. At 9am, the thought of eating all that gave me heartburn, which is when the opportunists at Gaviscon struck. They were followed by the opportunists at the air freshener factory. Does your home smell of burgers and tacos? Do the windows not open? Then spray your home with chemicals and look how happy your guests will be. Five adverts in, you could argue that we're not so different here in the UK. We buy cars and fast food and some of us prefer room fresheners to housework. But we don't have anything like what came next. • Matt Rudd: Six-week school summer holidays? Our little darlings deserve it 'For so long I felt stuck, but Zepbound means change,' says a woman who starts doing the salsa. The woman is well built, but clearly not as well built as she was before she was injected with Zepbound, an Ozempicish medication for chronic weight management. Now she can salsa! Seconds later a large dad is teaching his kid to skateboard, which is much more fun, the subtext implies, than being cut out of your bedroom by the fire brigade. 'It's changing how much weight I lose,' says another woman as she zip wires over a forested valley. She lost 48lb, she reveals, as we're invited to imagine how the zip wire ride might have turned out without Zepbound. Then another large man goes swimming. The last time I was in the US, this 30-second sequence would have been followed by about four seconds of side-effects read out very quickly. Now they really take their time. 'Don't take if allergic to it or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer or multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or a swelling in your neck.' Even if I wasn't taking Zepbound I'd probably tell my doctor if I had a lump in my neck, but they're not finished. 'Stop Zepbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction.' The salsa dancing continues. 'Severe side-effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. • Matt Rudd: I used to think it was a waste of money keeping an old dog alive 'Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes, depression or suicidal thoughts.' The zip wire woman is beaming now. Should she be anywhere near a zip wire? 'If you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or are taking birth control pills, taking Zepbound with sulfonylureas or insulin may cause low blood sugar ' The chap the woman is dancing with is clearly up for it but they keep dancing. Is no one worried about the birth control and the low blood sugar? Still not finished. It can't be fun if you're too obese to zip wire, but it would be worse to zip wire with 'nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems.' Jeez. After 40 seconds of doom and gloom, the voiceover has the cheek to conclude, 'Zepbound means change.' There is time for one final advert, in which California's largest personal injury law firm will get me the payout I deserve. No American I ask seems to think any of this is unusual. Like lobsters in gently heating water, they've become accustomed to a string of fast-food ads followed by a heartburn ad followed by an obesity drug ad that consists mostly of what horrible things the drug could do to you. Suicide, diarrhoea and a woman on a zip wire is normal television. 'I think the drug companies got sued because they weren't clear enough about the side-effects,' says one Californian friend when I ask what's going on. 'We're just crazy,' says another. Gluttonous, consumerist, isolationist and litigious — we're not quite all of those things just yet. I told you things could be worse.
Yahoo
01-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Inflation rises, affirming Fed decision to hold benchmark rate steady
This story was originally published on CFO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CFO Dive newsletter. Dive Brief: Inflation picked up in June, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Thursday, a day after Federal Reserve policymakers decided, in a vote with two dissents, to hold the main interest rate steady rather than risk pushing up prices with a rate cut. The personal consumption expenditures price index rose at an annual 2.6% rate in June compared with 2.4% in May, the bureau said. Core PCE, a measure excluding volatile food and energy prices and preferred by the Fed, increased at a 2.8% annual rate, well above the central bank's long-term inflation goal of 2%. 'The Fed got validation this morning with PCE coming in a little higher than expected,' Scott Helfstein, head of investment strategy at Global X, said in a client note. 'Healthcare, housing and utilities continue to be key sources in driving inflation,' he said. Dive Insight: Tariffs set this year by the Trump administration prompted consumers to limit spending in June, EY-Parthenon Chief Economist Gregory Daco said in a client note. 'There was ample evidence of tariff-induced consumer caution with inflation adjusted spending on goods up only 0.07% and spending on services up a meager 0.05%,' Daco said, citing data released Thursday. Weak consumption highlights the risks to economic growth from the Fed's decision to forgo a reduction in borrowing costs until the inflationary impact of import duties is clear, according to economists. 'The combination of tariff-related cost increases, persistent policy uncertainty, curtailed immigration and elevated interest rates is expected to further weigh on employment, business investment and household consumption,' Daco said. Uncertainty over shifts to trade and other federal policies slowed economic growth to an annual rate of 1.2% during the first six months of 2025, or less than half the pace of last year. Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday sought to dispel the notion that monetary policy is weighing on growth, an assertion made in the past several weeks by President Donald Trump. Policymakers have held the federal funds rate at a range between 4.25% and 4.5% for five consecutive meetings. 'The economy is not performing as if a restrictive policy is holding it back,' Powell said in a post-meeting press conference. Trump redoubled his criticism of the Fed on Thursday, lashing out at Powell for not reducing borrowing costs. 'Jerome 'Too Late' Powell has done it again!!!' Trump said in a social media post. 'He is TOO LATE, and actually, TOO ANGRY, TOO STUPID, & TOO POLITICAL, to have the job of Fed Chair.' Powell "is costing our Country TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS,' Trump said, reiterating his assertion that a reduction in the federal funds rate would trim interest payments on spiraling federal debt. Trump by the end of 2025 will be able to announce a replacement for Powell, whose term as Fed chair expires in May, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday. 'We are putting together a very good list of candidates,' Bessent said, adding that Powell would break with tradition if he remains on the Fed's policymaking body until his tenure as a governor expires in 2028. It would be 'highly unusual for a chair to stay on,' Bessent said in a CNBC interview. Recommended Reading Services spur growth as coming election jars business confidence: S&P Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
25-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Here's a financial advisor's estimated value to clients
Financial advisors seeking a quick way to show prospective clients how their services pay for themselves many times over can use a new online tool calculating that dollar value. The "Financial Advisor Value Calculator" launched last month by lead generation and investor matchmaking service SmartAsset takes some basic information about age, income and retirement to estimate the difference in a client's final net worth, based on whether or not they worked with an advisor. Through assumptions about inflation, investment returns and a few other factors, and a formula that the company developed in a prior study, the tool offers a quick answer to a question on the minds of many potential clients, said Jaclyn DeJohn, a certified financial planner who is SmartAsset's director of economic analysis. READ MORE: Fee compression is coming, Cerulli says. Here's how to get ahead of it Closing the loop Through feedback channels like an "ask an advisor" inbox and monthly meetings with consumers on "the potential pain points," SmartAsset often hears from clients wondering whether advisors are worth their cost in terms of both their fees and the time spent with them in meetings and filling out documents, DeJohn noted. "People want to be sure of the value or the ROI that they're going to get. Being able to put the value on there, I think, is really valuable to drive people on the fence to further explore things," she said. "Exposing those areas of expertise and bucketing them all into a final dollar value can be really valuable messaging when you have only a few moments to get your message across." The study authored by DeJohn earlier this year arrived at a figure of 2.39% to 2.78% higher annual rate of return for clients who work with advisors — roughly similar to Vanguard's annual Advisor's Alpha report, which puts the value at about 3%. SmartAsset intends to follow up on the new consumer-facing calculator with a version that advisors can use through their own firms. Its compliance teams have vetted the tool to ensure it's in line with industry rules. READ MORE: What's wrong with the big RIA model, straight from advisors' mouths Grains of salt and kernels of truth With fee compression as a dominant theme of recent decades in investing and a continuing force today, many planners have embraced alternative business models and thought carefully about the ways that clients may fail to understand the full equation or respond to the need to charge higher costs in some cases. Experts (and online commenters) point out there are any number of specific circumstances and statistical criteria that could affect the numeric value of advice, portfolio management and financial planning. That means the existence and range of the numbers matters more than, say, the exact numeric finding that this reporter's final net worth would grow by more than $284,000 by hiring an advisor. Furthermore, the tool includes the relevant legal disclosures and discussions about the methodology, with links for further reading. For advisors and their teams, the important takeaway from such numbers comes from expecting and fielding fee queries from the prospective clients and the large values from the behavioral coaching underlying their advice. In times of volatility, advisors can help clients "have a longer time horizon" and avoid "knee-jerk decisions" that cost them, said Mike Byrnes, the founder of advisory practice growth firm Byrnes Consulting. "Sometimes people are too quick to pull the rug out of their portfolios, so to speak, so they can miss a lot of the upside," Byrnes said. "There's a plan, and they need to stick to it to get to the retirement goals that they want." READ MORE: Solo advisors can thrive in a consolidating industry. Here's how The next iterations The tool could aid advisors in explaining how their comprehensive services deliver more value than the cheaper technology tools that do basic asset management or other competitors who are transactional salespeople. That'll be especially true once registered investment advisory firms and other wealth companies can embed it directly on their websites, DeJohn said. "Some of the feedback we've gotten from advisors is that there's large interest in making somewhat of a B2B version of this," she said. "Firms want to be able to distinguish their own alpha versus other firms."
Bloomberg
16-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Germany's Economy Likely Stagnated in Second Quarter, Bundesbank Says
Germany's economy probably failed to grow in the second quarter after a surprisingly strong expansion at the start of the year, according to Bundesbank. Europe's largest economy 'likely stagnated' as front-loading effects are expiring, it said in its monthly report published Wednesday, describing the underlying trend still as 'weak overall.'
