New York Fed President Williams, an FOMC permanent voter, will speak in 10 minutes.

According to a third-party monitor, in 1H 2026, 1,236 private index-enhanced products with disclosed performance posted an average return of 16.25% (17.32% a year earlier) while average excess return over their benchmarks was only 3.11%, down sharply from 14.17% a year earlier. The gap implies returns were largely driven by index beta and alpha generation became materially harder. 85.92% of products recorded positive returns in 1H, including 27 with returns above 50%, but only 61.08% achieved positive excess returns, indicating broad index gains lifted headline performance while fewer products outperformed benchmarks.

Jiahuang Capital Markets analyst Daria Parkhomenko said sterling’s attractive yields could push GBP higher versus the euro in the near term if UK fiscal concerns do not re-emerge. She said EUR/GBP has been trading as a carry play and would likely continue to fall while fiscal risk remains low. The key risk is who Andy Burnham would appoint as chancellor if he became prime minister.