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Andy Burnham becomes prime minister as Britain contends with a series of global economic shocks and years of weak growth in living standards, fuelled by underinvestment and deep regional divisions. Before his arrival in Downing Street, the Labour leader pledged to deliver “good growth in every postcode” by transferring power from Westminster to local communities. But with the public finances under pressure, and time running out before the next general election, the task is not straightforward. Here are the areas Burnham has indicated will be his priorities in power, with charts laying out the complexities involved in achieving them. Reindustrialisation Burnham has signalled that a strengthened industrial strategy will form a central plank of his agenda to support economic growth outside London and south-east England. This includes a push to “safeguard sovereign manufacturing and production capability … in critical sectors like steel, defence, energy, food and farming”. Across rich countries, there is a growing focus on domestic manufacturing amid mounting geopolitical tensions. Rightwing populists have sought to capitalise on the consequences of deindustrialisation, targeting small towns and cities that have struggled after the closure of factories. In making promises to these communities Burnham will be hoping to win back Labour voters considering a switch to Reform UK. Britain’s industrial base has dwindled from about 30% of the economy in 1979 to about a tenth today, yet pockets of strength remain in the old manufacturing heartlands. Supporting activity in these places is core to Labour’s industrial strategy. However, some experts warn that fetishising the industrial past is not the route to modern economic prosperity, given that the UK’s comparative advantages typically lie in service sector activities. High energy costs and competition from low-cost manufacturing hubs in Asia are also big headwinds. Burnham has relied heavily on Manchester’s economic revival for his political philosophy, going as far as branding it as “Manchesterism”. But analysts highlight the city’s success has been driven by private investment into knowledge-intensive business services, rather than reopening its cotton mills. Devolution Britain is the most centralised G7 country for tax and spending policy, and is among the most economically unequal in the developed world. Burnham has promised to bring about the “biggest rebalancing of power the country has ever seen” – including the establishment of a new hub for No 10 in the north, based in Manchester. He is also expected to hand powers, including over tax, to regional leaders. This week the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said devolution could play a key role in growing the UK economy as a whole, by driving up the output of underperforming regions. It said a coherent approach to align skills policy, infrastructure, innovation, finance and governance was an “essential” component for improving productivity across regions. However, others warn devolution does not guarantee stronger growth. While allowing for a tailored response to local issues, it could create inefficiencies, and will need financial firepower to be successful. Local government also lacks capacity after more than a decade of deep cuts and restructuring power will take time to implement. Cost of living Burnham has promised to give “breathing space” as soon as he can to families struggling with the cost of living crisis, with expectations for a package of financial support that could be announced within weeks. Households and businesses have faced soaring costs driven by the energy price shocks from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, with inflation locked above the 2% target set for the Bank of England for five years. After more than a decade of stalling real wage growth, household incomes fell during the last Conservative parliament for the first time in modern history. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation warns this could happen again without a change in course. Some Labour insiders believe Burnham has leeway because the Iran war is having a smaller impact than feared. The July increase in the Ofgem energy price cap was smaller than after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and comes in the summer months when consumption is lower. However, prices remain significantly higher than before the Covid pandemic and others are urging Burnham to take more radical steps on the cost of living. Policy options could include an affordable energy guarantee; rent controls, cheap bus fares, and an expansion in free school meals. Burnham has also spoken of the need for greater public control over key utilities including water, energy, and transport. Youth unemployment Unemployment has risen to the highest levels since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic in recent months, with young people bearing the brunt. The Iran war, elevated Bank of England interest rates and cost of living crisis weighing on the economy have hit hiring confidence. Business leaders also blame tax increases for making matters worse. skip past newsletter promotion Free newsletter | Every weekday Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Preview latest Enter your email Sign up after newsletter promotion Ministers are however increasingly alarmed over a longer-term shift in youth employment, amid rising mental ill-health, the impact of social media and AI disruption. Against this backdrop, the number of young people not in employment, education, or training has risen above a million for the first time in a decade; accounting for 13.5% of all 16- to 24-year-olds. Burnham has said he will respond by pushing to strengthen technical education and the apprenticeship system. He also enters office awaiting the final reports from two major government-backed reviews: Alan Milburn’s investigation into youth worklessness, and Stephen Timms’ review of disability benefits. Both have called for welfare reform. Defence spending Burnham will need to find an extra £4.7bn over five years for defence in his first budget, after Keir Starmer announced £15bn extra in military funding without having fully identified how it will be funded. According to the Treasury, £10.3bn will also be raised by “reallocating budget” from across government departments. Many of the decisions on how this will work in practice will form part of the challenge for the new prime minister to oversee as part of his next budget-setting and spending review process. Over the long-term Labour has also committed to spending 3.5% of GDP on defence by the middle of the next decade. However, tight constraints on the public finances and other pressures to fund public services and welfare spending will complicate the path, with the Office for Budget Responsibility warning the UK is on an “unsustainable” trajectory. Social housing Burnham has pledged to oversee the “biggest council house building programme since the postwar period”. In his speech on the economy last month he linked the loss of almost 1.5m council homes since the 1980s to a rise in the number of families on social housing waiting lists to similar levels. Under Starmer, Labour had already pledged £39bn to social and affordable homes and a target to build 1.5m new homes in total, but the government could struggle to hit this. Official figures show the last time more than 300,000 homes – or 1.5m over five years – were built in a single year in England was 1969. Back then almost half were affordable social homes built by councils. Economists are however clear that greater transport investment and housing provision would have significant benefits, by helping to support labour mobility and productivity. Fiscal rule The biggest challenge for Burnham, as for previous prime ministers, will be how to pay for his plans. The role of his chancellor will also be crucial, with Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, tipped to secure the role over Ed Miliband. Sending a clear signal to jittery bond investors, Burnham last month said his policy agenda would be “backed with sound public finances and the discipline of our current fiscal rules”. Retaining the self-imposed borrowing and debt constraints drawn up by Rachel Reeves will limit his options, but are seen as key to avoiding a market backlash that could risk further driving up the UK’s already £100bn a year bill for servicing the national debt. Reeves had put the UK on a faster path to cutting its annual borrowing levels than other G7 economies. However, with spending pressures looming, and febrile conditions in financial markets worldwide, the UK’s borrowing costs remain elevated.

صالة تداول سوق دبي المالي سوق دبي المالي: أنهى مؤشر سوق دبي المالي، تعاملات الأسبوع الماضي، على انخفاض بـ 229 نقطة، وبنسبة 3.8%، مغلقاً عند 5814 نقطة، وذلك مقارنة بإغلاق الأسبوع الذي سبقه عند 6043 نقطة. وسجل معدل التداول اليومي خلال الأسبوع الماضي انخفاضًا بنسبة 22% ليصل إلى 421.8 مليون درهم، مقارنة بـ 540.2 مليون درهم خلال الأسبوع الذي سبقه. مؤشر سوق دبي المالي التغير (%) الحالي منذ أسبوع منذ شهر إغلاق العام السابق خلال أسبوع خلال شهر منذ بداية العام 5814 6043 6116 6047 (3.8 %) (4.9 %) (3.9 %) انخفضت مؤشرات سبعة قطاعات خلال الأسبوع الماضي، مقابل ارتفاع مؤشر قطاع واحد. وتصدر مؤشر قطاع العقارات قائمة القطاعات المنخفضة بعد تراجع مؤشره بنسبة 5.7%، تلاه مؤشرا قطاعي المرافق العامة والمالي بنحو 4% لكلٍ منهما، ثم مؤشر قطاع الصناعة بـ 3.2% . وانخفض مؤشر قطاع الخدمات الاستهلاكية بـ 2.9%، تبعه مؤشر قطاع الاتصالات بنحو 0.3%، ثم مؤشر قطاع السلع الاستهلاكية بنسبة 0.1%، في حين ارتفع مؤشر قطاع المواد الأساسية. أداء الأسهم: سجلت أسعار أسهم 4 شركات ارتفاعاً خلال الأسبوع الماضي، مقابل انخفاض أسعار أسهم 45 شركة أخرى. وتصدر سهم دبي للمرطبات الشركات الأكثر ارتفاعا خلال هذه الفترة، بنسبة 14.7%، ثم سهم دبي الوطنية للتأمين وإعادة التأمين بنسبة 8.3%. الشركات الأكثر ارتفاعًا الشركة 10 يوليو 2026 (درهم) 17 يوليو 2026 (درهم) التغير دبي للمرطبات 28.760 33.000 + 14.7 % دبي الوطنية للتأمين وإعادة التأمين 3.000 3.250 + 8.3 % تكافل الإمارات 1.490 1.500 + 0.7 % دبي التجاري 9.400 9.450 + 0.57 % تصدر سهم تاكسي دبي قائمة الشركات المنخفضة خلال الأسبوع الماضي، بنسبة 7.1%، ثم سهما أمان والاتحاد العقارية بنحو 6.9%. الشركات الأكثر انخفاضاً الشركة 10 يوليو 2026 (درهم) 17 يوليو 2026 (درهم) التغير تاكسي دبي 2.270 2.110 (7.1 %) أمان 0.392 0.365 (6.9 %) الاتحاد العقارية 0.685 0.638 (6.9 %) إعمار للتطوير 14.040 13.120 (6.6 %) الإمارات دبي الوطني 31.320 29.300 (6.5 %) دريك أند سكل 0.247 0.232 (6.1 %) إعمار العقارية 11.860 11.160 (5.9 %) دبي الإسلامي 7.770 7.340 (5.5 %) العربية للطيران 5.460 5.190 (5.0 %) إيفا 5.180 4.930 (4.8 %) أملاك 1.250 1.190 (4.8 %) سوق دبي المالي 1.490 1.420 (4.7 %) هيئة كهرباء ومياه دبي 2.790 2.660 (4.7 %) أمانات القابضة 1.400 1.340 (4.3 %) تبريد 2.660 2.550 (4.1 %) سوق أبوظبي للأوراق المالية: أنهى مؤشر سوق أبوظبي للأوراق المالية، تعاملات الأسبوع الماضي، على انخفاض بـ 154 نقطة وبنسبة 1.5%، مغلقاً عند 9782 نقطة، وذلك مقارنة بإغلاق الأسبوع الذي سبقه. وسجل معدل التداول اليومي خلال الأسبوع الماضي انخفاضاً بنسبة 29% ليصل إلى 746.4 مليون درهم، مقارنة بـ مليار درهم في الأسبوع السابق. مؤشر سوق أبوظبي المالي التغير (%) الحالي منذ أسبوع منذ شهر إغلاق العام السابق خلال أسبوع خلال شهر منذ بداية العام 9782 9936 9996 9993 (1.5 %) (2.1 %) (2.1 %) شهدت مؤشرات 10 قطاعات انخفاضًا خلال الأسبوع الماضي، فيما استقر مؤشر قطاع واحد دون تغيير. وتصدر مؤشر قطاع العقارات قائمة الانخفاضات بنحو 7%، تلاه مؤشر قطاع السلع الاستهلاكية بنسبة 2.8%، ثم مؤشر قطاع التكنولوجيا بـ 2.5%، تبعه مؤشرا قطاعي الطاقة والرعاية الصحية بنحو2.3% لكلٍ منهما، تبعهما مؤشرا قطاعي الصناعات والاتصالات بنحو 2.1%. وانخفض مؤشرا قطاعي المالية والتقديري للمستهل بنسبة 1% لكلٍ منهما، تبعهما مؤشر قطاع المرافق بـ 0.4%، في حين استقر مؤشر قطاع المواد الأساسية دون تغيير. أداء الأسهم: سجلت أسعار أسهم 7 شركات ارتفاعًا خلال الأسبوع الماضي، مقابل انخفاض أسعار أسهم 62 شركة. وتصدر سهم فودكو الوطنية للمواد الغذائية الشركات الأكثر ارتفاعًا خلال هذه الفترة، بنسبة 3.1%، ثم سهم العربي المتحد بنسبة 3.1%. الشركات الأكثر ارتفاعًا الشركة 10 يوليو 2026 (درهم) 17 يوليو 2026 (درهم) التغير فودكو الوطنية للمواد الغذائية 1.280 1.320 + 3.1 % العربي المتحد 1.300 1.340 + 3.1 % أوراسكوم 48.500 49.840 + 2.8 % أجيليتي جلوبال بي إل سي 1.730 1.770 + 2.3 % بنك الشارقة 1.160 1.170 + 0.9 % بريسايت 3.500 3.530 + 0.9 % إيبيكس للاستثمار 3.250 3.270 + 0.6 % تصدر سهم سوداتل قائمة الشركات المنخفضة خلال الأسبوع الماضي، بنسبة 9.6%، ثم سهم فينكس كروب بنحو 8.2%.

Mount Hotham was like a second home to Dan Burke. In the 1980s, his family stayed in the communal lodges, back when the lifts were run by the Schumann family, who lived in Harrietville at the mountain’s base and knew regulars by name. He’d sneak into nightclubs with the teenagers who worked at the resort, doing the Nutbush, spilling out into hotel corridors at 3am. As the 80s ticked over into the 90s, it seemed like a particularly egalitarian time for what has traditionally been an elite pursuit. First came snowboarding, for which Burke was all-in. “Skiing was pretty daggy in my eyes – tight pants, headbands – but the snowboarders would be rocking around the village in their fat pants, wearing sneakers in their boots,” he says. “Skiers called us knuckle-draggers. My whole crew from the coast started coming up. A lot were from a lower socioeconomic background, but they’d get up there and get a job.” Second came the availability of parabolic skis, wider in the tip and tail, easier for beginners. “Previously you had to be a very proficient skier to actually ski in powder snow,” Burke says. View image in fullscreen The original Hotham Heights hotel in the 1960s. There are now more than 100 properties on the mountain. Photograph: supplied by Marcus Lovett Burke still heads to Hotham most years and rages to DJ sets at the General, the mountain’s year-round pub/restaurant/store. He’s lucky that, back in the day, his parents bought a small flat on the mountain. Many of his mates have given up on the slopes and gone back to the surf – because the snow fields are once again out of reach of all but the most financially comfortable or most determined. Ever-rising lift ticket prices, the tightening of rules around sleeping in vehicles or camping and rising accommodation costs have locked most families out. Even the few lodges and flats not swallowed up by the large commercial operators are affected by high body corporate fees – driven by extreme weather, building wear, shared infrastructure costs and the rising cost of insurance. The result: people who work on the ski fields have been priced off the mountains, resettling in towns further afield, meaning locals and even staff are now rarely part of the mountain nightlife. ‘World’s flattest lift’ Marcus Lovett was the first Australian to compete in the Olympics in freestyle skiing, at the Calgary games in 1988. He was inspired by his father, who’d made his own skis as an enthusiast growing up in New Zealand, and who introduced four-year-old Marcus to the modest slopes of Dingo Dell on Mount Buffalo in the 1960s. These days Dingo Dell is a toboggan run only – the ski lifts gone, the snow patchy at best. Even Cresta valley, previously a popular downhill ski slope further up the mountain, is gone, destroyed in a bushfire in 2006. It’s now devoid of ski lifts and open for cross-country skiing, and snow play only. “To me, Buffalo was a mega mountain, and my dad was a legend,” Lovett says. “Then, as I became a better skier and went back there, I just remember thinking, god, this is the world’s flattest lift.” Buffalo and Mt Buller – the mountain closest to Melbourne and, at a relatively short 3.15-hour’s drive away, the best option for a day trip – were popular with families and beginners due to their easier slopes and lower-cost lift passes. Buller still operates as a large ski resort, thanks most years to its hundreds of snow-making machines supplementing inconsistent natural snow. View image in fullscreen Marcus Lovett at Dingo Dell, Mt Buffalo, as a child with his sister in 1969. Photograph: supplied by Marcus Lovett As a competitive skier, Lovett favoured Falls Creek and still has a soft spot for Feathertop Alpine Lodge, where he celebrated many a long day in the 90s. “What I loved about ski culture was the celebration. Gluhwein at lunchtime, shots at night.” But in the early noughties, when he was back in Australia hosting the Channel Nine skiing travel show Snowshow, Lovett became alarmed by the steep rise in price of lift tickets. “On TV I was trying to push this idea of skiing, but when they hit the over-$100 mark, I realised it was becoming prohibitive. It became obvious I wasn’t making our show for the western suburbs of Sydney or poorer parts of Melbourne.” These days, lift tickets sold by global ski resort operator Vail (which in Australia acquired Hotham, Perisher and Falls Creek) are around $180-$220 a day. In the US, a proposed class action was filed in March, alleging that Vail and another operator set high day-ticket prices to steer customers into multi-resort season passes. Another option is the recently introduced four-day season pass, which is Lovett’s own choice for best value, adding day passes if needed. skip past newsletter promotion Free newsletter | When needed Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks Preview latest Enter your email Sign up after newsletter promotion But there is another problem: snow on the Australian alps is increasingly patchy. Global heating has reduced the already short ski season – from the June to September long weekends, in the 1980s and 1990s – in some years to a handful of slushy weekends. Hook the kids first Other resorts have had to rethink their way of working. Take Thredbo, just 30 minutes from the NSW town of Jindabyne, as is the Vail-operated Perisher. In 1987, the budget-conscious Station Resort entertainment and accommodation complex opened near Jindabyne, so by the time Lovett was a snow reporter at Perisher in the 90s, Thredbo and Perisher were fiercely competing for day visitors staying in the town. “That doesn’t happen any more because people buy their season pass in advance and commit to one resort,” Lovett says. Thredbo now seems to court the more elite market” those happy to pay more for a quieter experience. The chartered bus to the snow – once beloved by businesses and schools – still exists, but far less so thanks to fewer affordable lodges and rising lift ticket costs. Mary Thorpe remembers her year 12 school trip well. In 1991 her school arranged a camp in Perisher, a 16-hour drive from the Sunshine Coast, which cost her parents about $500. “After a few skiing lessons we were left to our own devices,” she says. “It was the era of low supervision, so I talked all my friends into going to the Jindabyne hotel to see Transvision Vamp.” View image in fullscreen Lovett skiing on Mt Hotham in 2019. He hopes his children have the opportunity to work in Australian ski resorts. Photograph: supplied by Marcus Lovett That trip ignited an interest in skiing in Thorpe, now a performing arts teacher, but she ultimately decided that hiking the glaciers of New Zealand was better bang for your buck. “The last time I went skiing with mates it was like throwing $100 bills out of the window as we drove up the mountain,” she says. “I realised I have a choice of aiming for their level of proficiency, or deciding I only have so many holidays left and I don’t want to chase this.” She did once take her teenage son and his mate to Hotham. “It was an attempt to not bring him up with too much of a poverty consciousness,” she says. “I hired a place in Harrietville and drove 40 minutes up the mountain every day, then back down, as people tend to do if they’re in the lower-middle-class demographic. He snowboards now if the planets align and the affordability is right.” Many young enthusiasts fund their snowboarding by working at resorts as lift attendants and bartenders, enjoying reductions on accommodation and lift tickets. “The marketing strategy when I worked at Perisher was to get people hooked when they’re young,” Lovett says. “We’ll get them working in the restaurants now, get them cheap deals, and they’ll bring their family in 10 years, maybe even buy an expensive apartment.” Even so, he’s pleased that his own children, 11 and 14, chose skiing over a trip to Europe this year. “I would love them to have that opportunity to work [at a resort] if they wanted to do it, knowing that they could then go to other countries and do it,” he says. But with flights, accommodation and ski passes to Japan, China and New Zealand being comparatively affordable now – and offering more reliable and better snow coverage – the home mountains could be in danger of losing the next wave.

Gold (GC=F) August futures opened at $3,980.10 per troy ounce on Friday, July 17, 2026, down 0.3% from Thursday's closing price. The gold price moved slightly higher this morning to $3,998.10 at 8:02 a.m. ET. A sixth straight day of airstrikes against Iranian targets has pushed gold prices down to levels last seen eight months ago in November 2025. While the back-and-forth attacks between the U.S. and Iran aren't as intense as they were back in March and April, we've seen a steady escalation this week, with the U.S. now striking critical roads and bridges, along with key military targets. Despite the U.S. bombardment, Iran has refused to relinquish control of the Strait of Hormuz, holding firm on their most compelling bargaining chip, and retaliating with their own airstrikes across the Middle East. Oil prices have risen considerably this week following consecutive days of fighting, prompting many to believe the Fed will raise rates at least once this year to combat rising energy prices caused by the war with Iran. The longer the fighting continues and the Strait of Hormuz remains cut off to oil tankers, the harder it will be for gold prices to gain any true momentum. Current price of gold The opening price of August gold futures on Friday, July 17, 2026, was 0.3% lower compared to Thursday's opening price. Here's a look at how the gold price has changed versus last week, month, and year: One week ago: -3.4% One month ago: -8.3% One year ago: +20.1% On Jan. 29, gold's one-year gain was 95.6%. 24/7 gold price tracking: Don't forget you can monitor the current price of gold on Yahoo Finance 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Want to learn more about the current top-performing companies in the gold industry? Explore a list of the top-performing companies in the gold industry using the Yahoo Finance Screener. You can create your own screeners with over 150 different screening criteria. How much gold should you own? A gold investment can add stability and inflation protection to your portfolio. But it can also dilute your gains when stock prices are rising quickly. Finding the right balance between gold's diversification benefits and profiting from growth potential in other assets can be challenging. Even the experts are divided on how to achieve the correct balance. Below, five experts explain their recommended gold allocations, which range from 0% to 20%. Learn more: How to invest in gold in 4 steps No gold: Trade-off is too high Robert R. Johnson, professor at Creighton University's Heider College of Business, does not advocate gold investing. In his words, "while having a small position in precious metals may dampen portfolio volatility in the short-run, the tradeoff between slightly dampened volatility and the lost long-term return is certainly not a prudent one, particularly for Gen Z/millennials with long investing time horizons." 2% to 5% allocation, depending on the situation Brett Elliott, director of content and SEO at American Precious Metals Exchange (APMEX), recommends setting an allocation that aligns with your investing goals. Growth-oriented investors may be comfortable with an allocation of 10% or 15%, according to Elliott. But income investors will prefer a smaller position, because gold provides no yield. A 2% to 5% gold allocation can provide some resiliency without an excessive drag on income potential. Learn more: Who decides what gold is worth? How gold prices are determined. 5% to 8% gold allocation Blake McLaughlin, executive vice president at Axcap Ventures, said historical data support a gold allocation of 5% to 8%. "Gold may not offer the outsized return potential of private investments, but the metal holds a set of attributes that are increasingly hard to ignore," according to McLaughlin. Those attributes include the metal's resilience amid economic uncertainty and geopolitical unrest. 5% to 15% gold allocation Thomas Winmill, portfolio manager at Midas Funds, believes most investors will benefit from a long-term gold allocation of 5% to 15%. Winmill specifically advocates investing in gold mining companies through a mutual fund. Your risk tolerance and current mix of financial versus hard assets can guide you to an appropriate allocation, according to Winmill. Risk tolerance: Keep your allocation percentage low if you tend to panic in volatile cycles. Financial vs. hard assets: Financial assets are stocks and bonds. Hard assets include tangible items like real estate, gold, collectibles, classic cars, and equipment. If you have no home equity and your wealth is primarily in financial assets, you can set your gold allocation higher. Or, if your home is paid for and more valuable than your stock portfolio, gold investing may not be necessary. Learn more: Thinking of buying gold? Here's what investors should watch for. 20% gold allocation Vince Stanzione, CEO and founder at First Information, recommends a 20% gold allocation, specifically in physical gold or a gold ETF. Stanzione argues for a higher exposure to gold as a wealth protection strategy. As he says, "gold keeps with inflation and gold retains its purchasing power," while paper currencies are devaluing around the world. Learn more: Gold IRA: Benefits, risks, and how it differs from a traditional IRA Price of gold chart Whether you're tracking the price of gold since last month or last year, the price-of-gold chart below shows the precious metal's change in value so far this year.

Then the chips fell. Micron dropped 15% over two days, the SOXX and Applied Materials fell 12% and 17% while Tesla slipped 6% even after reporting more than 480,000 second-quarter deliveries (6). In Seoul on Thursday alone, Samsung fell about 9% and SK Hynix about 15% (7). On June 30, Burry disclosed shorts against Nvidia, Applied Materials, Caterpillar, Tesla and the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX), a fund that holds Nvidia, Micron and other microchip stocks. The next day he added Micron Technology, posting (4) that it "defines cyclical like no other." He argues that Micron has taken 34 drops of more than 30% in 42 years, and its long-run returns on capital are "frankly terrible (5)." First, the mechanics. Shorting a stock is a bet that the stock will fall — you borrow shares, sell them now and plan to buy them back cheaper later, keeping the difference. If the stock climbs instead, you lose. Burry ranks second on Substack's "Bestsellers in Finance" list (2) and has almost 2 million followers on X (3). When someone with that kind of audience says he's shorting a stock, some people are going to copy him. But you shouldn't do it just because he did — at least not without understanding why. He revealed bets against six stocks, and most of them fell in value within days. Business Insider asked him if he thought his calls were moving those stocks, and he pushed back in an email: "I do not believe there is a Burry effect (1)." The investor, known for predicting the 2008 housing crash, now writes about his trades on Substack. The tax breaks in Trump's 'big beautiful bill' expire after 2028 — and experts say most people won't act in time. What to do before the window closes JP Morgan sees gold hitting $6,000/oz before 2027 — and a gold IRA lets you hold the physical metal while deferring the tax bill. Get your free guide from Priority Gold Jeff Bezos backs a platform that lets anyone invest in rental homes for as little as $100 — 6 ways to build wealth like a landlord without actually being one Michael Burry may have the opposite effect, though he doesn't buy that idea. When Warren Buffett reveals he's buying something, other investors usually follow suit. His reputation alone can push a share price higher. People call that the "Buffett effect." Moneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below. Story Continues Burry didn't do that alone, though. U.S. investors were already dumping chip stocks that week on doubts about how long the AI spending boom can last, and the selling spread to Seoul. His shorts landed on a market that was already selling fast. Wealth Club chief investment strategist Susannah Streeter, one of the analysts who told Business Insider a short-lived "Burry effect" is plausible, framed it as "almost the mirror image of the Buffett effect." Buffett's approval pulls buyers in, and a Burry warning tends to speed up selling that's already started. What this means for your money It's tempting to read a Burry short as a sell signal, but exercise caution. When you copy a big-name investor like Burry, you only see part of the picture. You don't know his full portfolio, his timing or when he'll exit. Take defense contractor Palantir, which Burry began shorting in November (8). By the time last week's headlines hit, Burry had already halved that bet — buying back half the borrowed shares to lock in part of the gain (9). Palantir has since dropped roughly 40% from its November peak (10), so Burry's prediction looks to have been correct. But he's also famous for being right years too early — his housing bet took ages to pay off — and many people are uncomfortable sitting in a losing position for that long. You also need to separate the stock from the headline. Micron makes memory and storage chips — the hardware that helps phones, laptops, data centers and AI systems handle huge amounts of data. The week Burry shorted it, the stock fell about 15%. But it had just reported a record quarter, with $41.46 billion in revenue, up about 346% from $9.30 billion a year earlier (11), and a 15% jump in the share price after the report (12). Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron's chairman and CEO, called out "the strategic value of memory in the AI era." Burry's bet is about price and timing, not Micron's survival, and calls like that can take their time to prove right or wrong. When a loud investor posts a trade, it may move prices around for a few days, but it doesn't decide where those stocks go over time. If you're holding volatile assets like tech stocks, consider how long you plan to hold them, and if you could stay calm if they dropped across the board by 20% (the definition of a bear market). That matters a lot more than whatever Burry happens to say this week. Get a second opinion from Wall Street experts There's no denying Michael Burry has earned his reputation. His market calls have made headlines for years, and his investing success has translated into an estimated fortune of around $300 million (13). But what works for a centimillionaire doesn't always work for someone investing their own retirement savings. Even if you agree with Burry's market outlook, copying his trades isn't as easy as it sounds. Public filings and social media posts rarely tell the full story. You don't know whether Burry is still holding the position, has already taken profits or has a stop-loss order in place. By the time a trade becomes public knowledge, the opportunity may have already changed. Instead of hinging your portfolio on the moves of a single expert, it may be smarter to gather multiple perspectives before making a decision. Platforms like Moby give investors access to research from a team of former hedge fund analysts who spend hundreds of hours each week combing through earnings reports, financial statements and market developments. Moby's success speaks for itself. The platform's stock picks have outperformed the S&P 500 index by about 11.9% over the past four years. Even better, Moby offers a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can see if the service is right for you. And if you sign up for Moby Premium you get one free top stock to get you off to a good start. Stick to an index fund It's easy to get caught up in headline-grabbing stock picks, especially when investors like Michael Burry make a bold call. That can produce outsized gains if you're right, but it can also magnify losses if the market moves against you. That's especially important to keep in mind, as markets remain highly volatile. Concerns about AI overvaluation, inflation, shifting interest-rate expectations and geopolitical tensions continue to fuel sharp swings across the market. At the same time, demand for AI infrastructure remains incredibly strong, with experts predicting that AI chip demand will continue to outpace supply for years to come (14). Betting against those companies could prove costly if the AI boom has more room to run. Rather than trying to pick which side is right, broad-market index funds allow you to own a slice of the entire market. Diversification helps smooth out volatility while still giving you exposure to companies benefiting from long-term economic growth. Over decades, that approach has historically delivered solid results. The S&P 500 has averaged annual returns of roughly 10.5% since 1957. Platforms like Acorns allow you to invest your spare change from everyday purchases into an index fund. Signing up for Acorns takes just minutes: All you have to do is link your cards and Acorns will round up each purchase to the nearest dollar, investing the difference — your spare change — into a diversified portfolio managed by experts at leading investment firms like Vanguard and BlackRock. With Acorns, you can invest in an S&P 500 ETF with as little as $5 — and, if you sign up today and set up a recurring investment, Acorns will add a $20 bonus to help you begin your investment journey. Diversify with gold Whether you're following Michael Burry's latest trade or making investment decisions on your own, sharp market swings can quickly turn a winning trade into a losing one. That's why many financial professionals recommend diversification. Owning assets that don't always move in lockstep with stocks can help cushion your portfolio when stocks stumble. As the saying goes: don't put all your eggs in one basket. Gold has long been viewed as one of those defensive assets. During periods of inflation, geopolitical unrest, or economic uncertainty, investors have often turned to the precious metal as a store of value. After all, it can't be printed at will and has an inherently limited supply. Today, you can combine the recession-resistant properties of the precious metal with the tax advantages of an IRA by opening a gold IRA with the help of Priority Gold. And with Priority Gold's platinum package, you can even get free account setup and insured shipping and storage for up to five years. Plus, you can also roll over your existing IRA or 401(k) into a precious metals IRA with Priority Gold — tax and penalty-free. Just keep in mind that gold is typically best used as one part of a well-diversified portfolio. The best part? You can download Priority Gold's wealth preservation guide for free and get up to $10,000 in complimentary silver upon making a qualifying purchase. Add real estate to the mix Another way to diversify your portfolio beyond stocks alone is to add real estate to the mix. Investors may benefit from long-term property appreciation while also earning rental income. And unlike stock prices, which can fluctuate by the minute, rental income remains stable because it is generally tied to lease agreements and local housing demand rather than daily market sentiment. Of course, owning rental property isn't always as passive as it sounds. Between financing costs, repairs, maintenance, and the occasional late-night emergency call from tenants, being a