The world economy grew at a 2.4% annual rate in the first half of this year, around its longer-term trend.

U.S. venture firms invested $69.9 billion across an estimated 4,001 deals, a 25% decline in deal value compared to the previous quarter. Artificial intelligence, national security, defense tech, fintech and crypto — all sectors aligned with the priorities of President Donald Trump’s administration — are attracting outsized interest from investors.

U.S. defined-contribution plans held $12.4 trillion in assets at the end of 2024.

The private-credit business has grown fast in the past two decades, with capital raised for lending to private-equity-backed companies—the biggest part of the market—up more than 100-fold since 2006 to nearly $700 billion in 2024.

Consumers may be pulling back on spending, but fast-casual chains have found at least one way to keep diners coming back: rewards programs. From Chipotle and Starbucks to Cava and Sweetgreen, restaurant brands are using loyalty programs to drive sales.

Only 26% of people in the top third of earners—households making about $130,000 or more—said in the three months ending in June that they were better off than a year ago, near the lowest level since the depths of the financial crisis in 2009.

BlackRock plans to offer a 401(k) target-date fund with a 5% to 20% allocation to private investments, depending on an investor’s age. BlackRock estimates target-date funds with private investments could earn an extra 0.5% annually on average before fees.

Silver prices have surged this year, up 27% to the highest levels in more than a decade.

An investment arm of insurer Prudential Financial will buy up to $500 million of consumer loans from technology-backed consumer lender Affirm Holdings for a period of three years. Most of the loans come due in six months and Affirm will be able to re-lend the investment throughout the life of the deal, allowing it to finance $3 billion of buy-now-pay-later loans. The deal is part of a growing wave of transactions pairing a handful of large private-credit investors with financial technology companies that are replacing banks as go-to lenders for the American public.

The Yale endowment plans to offload about $2.5 billion of private equity stakes. Secondhand buyers had considered valuing pieces of the portfolio at a 15% haircut, though the overall discount is expected to be less than 10%.