There’s been a lot of debate about whether various indices should allow SpaceX to feature despite it failing to meet various important criteria.
In summary, S&P had been thinking about changing the rules to allow SpaceX to enter the S&P 500, but on Thursday last week it decided not to. The move is reported here on technology website Ars Technica.
This also has implications for Anthropic and OpenAI also racing towards initial public offerings. They may also not feature in the main indices as Fortune’s website reports, with a tone of some disappointment.
An important element of these events has been the decision by the Nasdaq index and also London Stock Market Group-owned FTSE Russell to change the rules to accommodate these new IPOs, changing previous rules, which would have seen them not feature.
It feels as if this could have implications for passive strategies as Octo Members notes.
These remain, for now, very small amounts of allocation in advised portfolios. There may be bigger matters to mull in terms of asset allocations for now.
Here investment expert Dan Kemp considers what bonds should be used for in advisory portfolios, a pertinent question in volatile times for markets.
In Money Marketing, Joseph Amato, president and CIO – equities at Neuberger discusses how to navigate the AI and tariff disruption and suggests not fight it.
It is a bullish assessment. Among other things, he says: “The AI ‘doomsayers’ may also be underestimating constraints and second-order effects. If the ‘doomsday’ scenario plays out, policymakers are unlikely to accept rapid growth in unemployment without effecting a regulatory response.
“Energy and compute availability can also act as practical governors on growth and usage of disruptive AI tools. Importantly, those incumbent companies that aggressively adopt these tools can protect their margins and enhance productivity.”
Henry Ince, an analyst for equity strategies – manager research at Morningstar, writing in FTAdviser discusses the implications of Brexit for UK equities.
He writes: "The emergence of new political forces and a shifting domestic landscape mean the next decade is unlikely to offer the settled environment that a sustained re-rating of UK equities would require.
"Against this backdrop, UK equities trade at a 30 per cent trailing and 35 per cent forward price-to-earnings discount to the US (as of March 2026), substantially below the long-run average gap."
It's not all about markets of course.
Advisers are not unaware of the AI risks in terms of clients. Professional Adviser reports that 89% believe that artificial intelligence will have an impact on the traditional client-adviser relationship, with 68% citing concerns about clients turning to it for financial advice without professional guidance and being misled as a result, research from the Openwork Partnership has found.
