Mortgage rates fell this week to the lowest level in more than a month, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday.

Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage declined to 6.47% from last week’s reading of 6.52%. 

The average rate on a 30-year loan was 6.81% a year ago.

INCOME NEEDED TO AFFORD A MEDIAN-PRICED HOME HAS NEARLY DOUBLED SINCE 2020, REPORT FINDS

The average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 6.47%. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Incoming data continues to reflect a resilient consumer, with retail sales improving and pending home sales strengthening, suggesting purchase demand is continuing to modestly improve,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage fell to 5.81% from last week’s reading of 5.84%.

Rates have been elevated of late as concerns over the Iran war weighed on markets. On June 17, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum of understanding while attending meetings in France, while Iran signed remotely. The temporary framework calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, limits on Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile and a 60-day window to negotiate a permanent agreement addressing Tehran’s nuclear program.

MEDIAN US HOME PRICE PROJECTED TO HIT $1 MILLION BY 2050 – RIGHT AS MILLENNIALS RETIRE

The deal also includes provisions to ease economic pressure on Iran, including access to some frozen assets and the lifting of certain restrictions, while drawing criticism from some conservatives who argue the agreement offers too many concessions without requiring Iran to immediately dismantle its nuclear infrastructure.

“The previous weeks have been filled with constant back-and-forths, showing progress toward a resolution, only to be followed by heightened military action,” said Realtor.com senior economist Anthony Smith. “However, the latest rounds have proven more promising than previous periods of reprieve, as a tentative deal has now been drafted and now signed by President Trump.”

MIDWEST AND SOUTHERN STATES DOMINATE HOUSING REPORT CARDS: SEE HOW YOURS SCORED

Mortgage rates are affected by several factors, including the Federal Reserve and geopolitics. Though mortgage rates are not directly affected by the Fed’s interest rate decisions, they closely track the 10-year Treasury yield. The 10-year yield hovered around 4.45% as of Friday afternoon.

The U.S. central bank on Wednesday announced that it will hold interest rates steady due to concerns about elevated inflation amid the war in Iran, as new Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh’s tenure leading the central bank begins in earnest.

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh holds his first press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), at the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C., on June 17, 2026. (Eric Lee/Reuters)

Fed policymakers voted 12-0 to leave the benchmark federal funds rate unchanged at its current range of 3.5% to 3.75%. The move follows the central bank’s decision to hold rates steady in January, March and April following three successive 25-basis-point rate cuts in September, October and December to close out last year.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the central bank’s panel responsible for monetary policy moves, noted in its statement that inflation remains elevated above the central bank’s 2% goal, which it said was “in part reflecting supply shocks that have driven price increases in certain sectors, including energy.”

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

“Warsh used his first decision as chair to signal a broader regime change: the easing bias is gone, forward guidance has been shelved, and the committee’s statement was rewritten around a single, unhedged commitment to delivering price stability,” Smith said. “Markets responded with a jump in the 10-year Treasury and rising odds of a rate hike before year’s end. The logic of Warsh’s approach, earning credibility by following through rather than telegraphing, is sound and ultimately the path to lower long-term rates. But a market without clear guidance may demand a premium in the near term, which could keep mortgage rates from falling as quickly as the Iran ceasefire alone might suggest.”

FOX Business’ Bradford Betz and Eric Revell contributed to this report

Getting into financial markets has never been easier. A few taps on a phone, a quick registration, and someone who has never placed a trade in their life can suddenly have exposure to forex, commodities, and global indices. That convenience is genuinely useful. What it does not come with, automatically, is the knowledge to use it well.

The gap between access and understanding is one of the defining tensions in modern retail trading. New participants arrive regularly: motivated, sometimes well-funded, but often with a fragmented picture of how markets actually work. Social media, forums, and competing commentary can make it harder rather than easier to develop a coherent approach.

AFG-Management views structured financial education as one of the most practical things a platform can offer its clients. Not as an add-on, and not as a feature to mention in passing, but as a foundational component of how traders develop over time.

Why Easy Market Access Has Created New Educational Challenges

There is an irony at the centre of modern retail trading. Platforms have become dramatically more accessible, which is broadly a positive development. More people can engage with global markets than at any previous point, with fewer barriers and lower minimums than existed a decade ago.

But access without preparation changes the risk profile of participation. Many new traders spend more time looking for the right setup than understanding why price moves in the first place. Risk management, position sizing, and market structure often come second, after enthusiasm, and sometimes after the first few losses.

Unrealistic expectations follow naturally from that sequence. The assumption tends to be that a better indicator, a copied strategy, or a faster reaction to breaking news will change the outcome. Long-term development usually points in a different direction: broader market understanding, disciplined decision making, and the kind of knowledge that holds up when conditions become more demanding.

AFG-Management’s educational approach starts from this recognition. Through materials covering forex fundamentals, technical indicators, risk management, CFD trading, and swing trading concepts, the platform encourages participants to build knowledge in a logical order rather than simply accumulate it.

The Value of Structured Learning in Financial Markets

The problem for most developing traders is not a shortage of information. It is an excess of it, with no clear way to evaluate what matters.

Left to their own devices, beginners tend to bounce between topics. Advanced strategies one week, indicator settings the next, chart patterns after that. The result is a library of fragments with gaps where the fundamentals like leverage and risk management should be. Those are usually the areas that determine whether someone can sustain a trading approach across different market conditions.

Structured learning changes the sequence. It builds from foundational concepts outward, creating a progression where each layer supports the next rather than competing with it. AFG-Management supports this through learning resources that span multiple asset classes and disciplines, giving traders a framework to work within rather than a collection of unconnected ideas.

Why Guidance Remains Important at Every Experience Level

It is easy to associate financial education with beginners. New traders need it clearly. The terminology is unfamiliar, platforms have learning curves, and reading price action takes time and repetition.

Less obvious is how much guidance continues to matter beyond that first stage. Experienced traders face a different set of problems: consistency, discipline, knowing when a strategy that worked in one environment may not hold in another. These are not questions a tutorial answers. They require ongoing engagement with markets and the thinking that surrounds them.

Markets themselves keep shifting. Geopolitical developments, economic data releases, monetary policy decisions, and changes in investor sentiment can alter the behaviour of markets that felt predictable the week before. Even traders with years of experience encounter conditions that demand continued learning rather than mechanical application of existing methods.

AFG-Management approaches this by building education into the platform at every level. The account options available to traders are structured to reflect different stages of development, giving access to resources and guidance that align with where a trader actually is rather than where they started.

How AFG-Management Combines Education, Technology, and Market Access

Structured learning works better when the environment around it is consistent. Content alone does not close the education gap. The platform, tools, and support surrounding that content matter too.

AFG-Management has built a trading environment that brings educational resources together with access to forex, commodities, and other global markets through a single account. Traders can study and participate at the same time rather than treating them as separate activities. Advanced trading technology, mobile applications, adaptable dashboards, and multilingual support form the infrastructure that keeps the experience practical rather than theoretical.

The ability to apply learning directly within the same platform environment tends to accelerate development. Theory connects to practice faster when the gap between them is small.

The education gap in retail trading is unlikely to close on its own. Markets will keep attracting participants with varying levels of preparation. Platforms that take structured learning seriously, building it into the product rather than treating it as supplementary, are better positioned to serve those participants over time. That is the approach the platform has built its offering around.

This article was written by

Follow

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of UBER, META, GOOGL, AMZN either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

M&M’s makers Mars will debut artificial dye-free candies in August in a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA)-compliant move after facing pressure from Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

But while the classic candy-maker was able to use natural sources like beets or turmeric to replicate colors like red and yellow, shades of blue have proven considerably more difficult and expensive to recreate naturally. 

Mars has been replicating blue and brown’s artificial coloring using spirulina extract, a concentrated blue-green algae powder, but the substance is prohibitively expensive.

Turmeric, for example, is available in bulk from most wholesalers for prices in the $9-$11 per lb. range. Spirulina, by contrast, can be significantly more expensive. The raw supplement can cost up to $20 per lb. at similar wholesalers, while the concentrated form most often used for food dyes is often priced at over $100 per lb. 

THESE POPULAR FOODS ARE AFFECTED AS COMPANIES ALIGN WITH TRUMP ADMIN’S ‘MAHA’ INITIATIVE

A close-up image shows a bowl of blue M&M sweets at the Conservative party conference on Sept. 29, 2014, in Birmingham, England. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Furthermore, spirulina’s viscous nature has caused clogging in M&M’s factory spray nozzles and created film build-ups in manufacturing equipment, creating a potential safety and health hazard, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

The high costs associated with MAHA-ifying its products have driven Mars into a colorful dilemma, according to the Journal. Wanting to debut its altered product ahead of the company’s 85-year anniversary in August, Mars has spent millions in an effort to find alternatives.

Given the high costs of reproducing blue, Mars considered just rolling out a three-color mix of red, orange and yellow, but executives felt “the sunset vibes were too strong,” the Journal reported.

Packages of peanut M&M’s milk chocolate candy are stacked at a Costco Wholesale store on July 12, 2025, in San Diego, California.  (Kevin Carter/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Anton Vincent, the leader of the company’s North American snacks division, told the Journal the replacement effort “was a daunting situation,” adding, “you’re messing with an 85-year-old icon.”

WALMART ELIMINATING SYNTHETIC DYES FROM ITS PRIVATE-LABEL FOOD BRANDS

Mars had originally announced a plan to offer artificial dye-free products in 2016, but reversed the decision after announcing customers didn’t seem to care. 

But, thanks to a Kennedy-led push to pressure companies to ditch artificial materials, Mars again announced in 2025 they would be pivoting to natural dye options. 

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. leaves the stage after discussing the findings of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network survey, at the Department of Health an (Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz / Reuters)

Kennedy Jr. has frequently criticized the use of artificial dyes in U.S. food products, calling them a key driver in numerous American health epidemics.

“When we look at these nine specific food dyes, the science shows a clear, undeniable link to behavioral disruptions in our kids and long-term cancer risks. We are systematically clearing them out,” he said in a 2025 press conference with West Virginia’s Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey.

West Virginia became the first to sign into law a total ban on statewide sales of major artificial dyes in 2025.

Kennedy Jr.‘s HHS added Mars to a list of 27 corporations that have pledged to remove artificial food dyes from certain products in his office’s effort to eliminate petroleum-based food dyes from the U.S. food supply.

Federally, his office has formally banned four petroleum-based artificial food dyes, revoking Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorization for brominated vegetable oil (BVO), Red Dye no. 3, Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B. 

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a news conference on removing synthetic dyes from America’s food supply, at the Health and Human Services Headquarters in Washington, D.C., on April 22, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Kennedy Jr. has also pushed hard to get companies to phase out six other specific dyes — Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2, and Green 3. 

His office has cited animal studies that linked consumption of specific artifical dyes to cancer risks and long-term behavioral dysfunctions. 

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

The FDA cited the Delaney Clause, a provision requiring the institution to prohibit a chemical if it’s found to cause cancer in humans or animals, after banning Red Dye No. 3 in 2025. Numerous long-term animal studies found the chemical linked to cancer development in rats. 

FOX Business contacted Mars and HHS for further comment. 

In all industries, companies are making efforts to adopt digital solutions, automate processes, migrate to the cloud, and operate with data. Consequently, software development companies are now considered strategic partners rather than mere service providers.

If you need any custom platform, enterprise solution, mobile application, or product modernization, then software development firms in the UK should be your go-to choice owing to their technical skills, compliance practices, and foreign experience.

However, finding the right software developer is about more than evaluating their portfolio and price tags. Knowing exactly what professional software developers can deliver may prove to be useful for forming expectations.

Strategic Guidance Before a Single Line of Code

In many cases, companies initiate software development processes having a certain technical solution in mind. Companies that have years of experience usually start by questioning assumptions and making sure that a certain technical solution fits their goals.

In case you are going to upgrade legacy systems, it would be very beneficial for you to discuss this project with experienced professionals. You can learn more about finding an appropriate company from the following link: https://luminarybrands.co.uk/blog/software-development-companies-uk/.

Instead of rushing into the process of development, UK companies usually hold discovery sessions, meetings with stakeholders, and do a lot of technical analysis.

The Development Process: More Structured Than Many Clients Expect

Another widespread myth is that software development starts right away after signing the contract. However, reputable UK-based companies tend to use an appropriate delivery methodology that aims at minimizing risks and increasing transparency. The typical process could consist of the following stages:

• Discovery and requirements definition
• Solution architecture design
• UX planning
• Development iterations
• Testing and quality assurance
• Delivery and release management
• Support and optimization

During the development process, the client will have sprint reviews, demos, and progress reports regularly provided. Contemporary IT teams operate within the scope of agile methodologies, which allows evolving requirements without affecting the whole project.

In other words, this way of working enables businesses to validate their assumptions quickly and adapt their priorities based on new market realities. Moreover, it eliminates the need to wait for several months until the end of the project when stakeholders will be able to see how things look.

For big enterprise solutions, the development team might involve a solution architect, business analyst, developers, QA engineers, DevOps specialists, and a project manager.

Technical Expertise Across Modern Technology Stacks

The technology industry in the UK has built up a solid reputation in the realm of engineering. Several software companies are well-versed in multiple technologies, thereby enabling them to make recommendations in accordance with the needs of a specific project. Some examples of contemporary software partners include:

In addition to development frameworks, several UK-based firms have added other competencies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud native technologies, cybersecurity, and data engineering.

Businesses must anticipate that their software development partner will translate any technology into business-related language. In essence, the most competent organizations should be able to connect architectural considerations to scalability, security, maintenance, and costs.

Communication Becomes a Competitive Advantage

The distinction between a good and bad outcome for an IT project is often defined by communication.

In the UK’s leading companies, transparency is highly valued. Clients usually get access to project management systems, sprint updates, development environment access, and stakeholder meetings.

Think about a project as a voyage on the sea. Without frequent navigation adjustments, even the most high-tech vessel will go astray. Communication ensures that everyone involved understands what direction the vessel takes in terms of business and project objectives. You should be able to rely on:

• Timelines and milestones
• Points of contacts
• Escalation plans
• Risk management processes
• Demonstrations of delivered products

All this provides stakeholders with the opportunity to take decisions based on the knowledge gained and eliminates surprises close to project completion.

UK IT companies can be very appealing to international clients because of their excellent English language skills and vast experience with distributed and international projects.

Security, Compliance, and Risk Management

A security vulnerability discovered after launch is often significantly more expensive to fix than one identified during development. Once an application is live, even minor weaknesses can lead to service disruptions, emergency development work, customer dissatisfaction, and regulatory scrutiny.

For this reason, reputable UK software development firms invest considerable effort in security planning throughout the project lifecycle. They evaluate risks before development begins, monitor security during testing, and verify that protective measures remain effective during deployment.

This disciplined approach reduces the likelihood of costly remediation projects while helping businesses maintain compliance and protect valuable customer data. As cyber threats continue to evolve, early security investment has become a practical business decision rather than a purely technical concern.

Modernization Has Become a Business Priority

Current software development projects revolve around the concept of modernization because many large enterprises utilize old platforms plagued by accumulated technical debts. Although these technologies are effective, they often prevent innovation and raise maintenance expenses. In addition, it is not easy to integrate such platforms into modern processes.

Areas of Transformation

Depending on the business needs and available technologies, companies approach modernization differently. For example, some businesses migrate to the cloud. They opt for the decomposition of monolithic applications to enable flexible scaling and easier system updates. Programmers upgrade programming languages, enhance the user interface and develop APIs to establish data exchange between systems.

Why Incremental Change Works Better

The misconception regarding modernization that persists even today is that old systems need to be wholly overhauled. However, practical experience from reputable software development companies in the United Kingdom indicates that it is rare for them to suggest such a complete overhaul. The reason is that most companies opt for implementing changes in phases.

Such an approach enables enterprises to modernize their critical systems without causing any disruption in their functioning. It gives organizations the time to test results, minimize risks, and make changes in their priorities. With businesses investing increasingly in cloud native applications, phased modernization emerges as an excellent option.

Life After Launch

One of the areas which are least considered during software development is the post-deployment stage.

The software cannot be considered an asset that will never change in the future because expectations of customers change, technology develops, and other business needs come up.

UK-based software companies tend to provide a range of services after the software release, including:

• Monitoring and maintenance
• Performance tuning
• Updating for security
• Managing infrastructure
• Adding features
• Support

Sometimes cooperation does not end right after the software launch because many businesses consider the development company a consultant that participates in further decisions on the products and digitalization.

This approach allows companies to stay competitive without burdening their internal resources.

Evaluating Success Beyond Delivery Dates

Launching software on schedule is important, but delivery milestones tell only part of the story. The real measure of success emerges after implementation, when organizations begin to see tangible business outcomes.

Operational impact. Effective software should make everyday work easier. Teams may spend less time on manual tasks, complete processes faster, and gain better access to information needed for decision-making.

Customer value. Successful projects often improve customer interactions through faster services, smoother user experiences, and more reliable digital products. These improvements can strengthen customer satisfaction and retention over time.

Business growth. Technology investments should support broader business objectives. Increased revenue opportunities, improved scalability, and lower maintenance costs are often stronger indicators of success than the number of features delivered.

The most effective software development firms keep these outcomes in focus throughout the project, ensuring that technical decisions contribute directly to measurable business value.

Final Thoughts

What UK software companies deliver besides programming services is strategic advice, technical direction, modernization, security know-how, and operational assistance.

Any business entering into a software development relationship will find processes, transparency, governance, and emphasis on business results as key characteristics. Be it a creation of a brand new piece of software or modernization of existing assets – a competent software development partner may make a difference for your company.

When businesses treat software firms as partners who share their interests, rather than just contractors working on specific projects, more success is possible. It can be particularly important now that the global economy is becoming more and more digitized.

The Wansbeck Business Park firm has issued new accounts showing its performance

Industrial lighting maker Raytec says the outlook looks “extremely positive” amid an increase in turnover.

The Ashington-based manufacturer, which employs close to 100 people in the town, says there is increasing global demand of its low-energy and low-maintenance LED lighting systems. New accounts for the Japanese-owned business, which specialises in lighting for hazardous areas, lighting for video surveillance, lighting for the transport sector and heavy industrial lighting, show sales grew 8.3% to £18.7m, from £17.3m in 2025.

Operating profits fell slightly from £2.8m to £2.6m as pre-tax profits grew from £3.05m to £3.2m. Ordinary dividends of £1.89m were paid during the year.

Raytec describes itself as a world leader in LED lighting for security and safety, with a focus on smart and connected lighting products fed by ongoing research and development efforts. It supplies products to international markets through a network of distributors, a US subsidiary and directly to other manufacturers with exports accounting for about 67% of sales.

Its main markets are Europe (52%), the Middle East (6%), America (19%) Oceania (11%) and the Far East (12%). The firm said it had grown its product portfolio during 2025 through investment, which is expected to benefit 2026 sales.

In November last year, it was announced Raytec had acquired Finnish portable lighting specialist Atexor. The Espoo-based business brought 21 staff to Raytec’s operation and strengthened its position, with Raytec bosses saying at the time that the move brought enhanced research and development capabilities and a wider support network.

Atexor, which was founded in the early 1980s, provides products used across the oil and gas, petrochemical and manufacturing sectors. It continues to operate as an independent company and brand following the acquisition.

Writing in the 2025 Raytec Limited accounts, managing director David Lambert said: “The company’s sales increased by 8.3% year-on-year and the long-term business outlook remaining extremely positive, with increasing global demand for high performance, low energy, low maintenance LED illuminators across the specialist niche markets in which the business operates.

“Year-on-year, sales have increased to £18.7m (2024: £17.3m) generating profit before tax of £3.2m (2024: £3m). The company has continued to strengthen its product portfolio through 2025 through investment in research and development and expects new products to contribute significantly to sales in 2026.”