AI Funds Hit $1.3 B in Assets—but Fees Stay Lofty. Are Investors Paying for Hype?
When BlackRock rolled out the iShares Active Artificial Intelligence ETF (ticker BAI) back in February 2024, the offering looked like a boutique sidecar. Assets totaled just $38 million after the…
Mutual-to-ETF Conversions Loom as SEC Nears Green Light—Should You Stick Around for Ticker Day?
Ever since Dimensional Fund Advisors pulled off its high-profile 2021 conversion, fund lawyers have looked for ways to mass-migrate entire mutual-fund line-ups into exchange-traded wrappers. Until now, those plans were…
Glide-Path Shake-Up: Target-Date Giants Extend Equity Exposure for 100-Year Lifespans
When target-date funds (TDFs) debuted in the late 1990s, portfolio designers assumed most retirees would tap accounts for 25 years, give or take. Fast-forward to 2025: new actuarial tables estimate…
Africa Faces Another 10 Percent Crop Hit—Will Chocolate Prices Spike Again?
First it was torrential rain, then scorching heat. Now swollen-shoot disease is back in full force. Preliminary field surveys compiled this month by two major European grinders suggest that West…
Indonesia’s 40 Percent Nickel-Output Cut: The Hidden Cost Embedded in Your 2026 EV
Indonesia spent the past decade courting global capital by promising an endless stream of low-cost nickel ore. Then, in late July, a draft decree leaked from the Energy and Mineral…
Peru’s Copper Corridor Blockade: Could a Local Protest Squeeze 10 Percent of Global Supply?
A winding stretch of highway in Peru’s southern Andes rarely makes international headlines. Yet when local residents barricaded the so-called “mining corridor” in late July, trucks laden with copper concentrate…
OPEC+ Adds 548,000 Barrels a Day for August—Will Extra Supply Break Brent’s $70 Floor?
The oil market’s summer calm was jolted in early July when the OPEC+ coalition announced that eight core producers would lift output by 548 thousand barrels per day (kbpd) for…
Four Gold-Rated Funds Outpaced the S&P 500 in the Second Quarter—Here’s What Drove Their Edge
The June quarter ended with the S&P 500 clocking a healthy 8 percent total return, yet a handful of Morningstar Gold-rated funds quietly did even better. Their success was no…
Crypto Goes Bipartisan: Congressional Action Accelerates
In July 2025, Congress passed two landmark bills: the GENIUS Act, establishing federal stablecoin regulation, and the CLARITY Act, creating a broader digital asset oversight regime. The GENIUS Act passed…
The Victorian Work‑From‑Home Controversy: What’s Being Proposed?
At the Victorian Labor Party’s state conference (August 2025), Premier Jacinta Allan announced a world-first policy that would legally enshrine the right for eligible public and private sector employees in…