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Elevated land acquisition and construction costs have made the affordable housing segment financially less enticing for many developers View More

Anger erupted outside Goa Medical College as families and friends of 25 victims, mostly migrant workers, demanded the owners of Birch By Romeo Lane nightclub appear. Relatives identified loved ones, many of whom had recently arrived seeking work. Concerns mounted over the repatriation of bodies, with pleas for owner or government assistance. View More

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the economy will end the year on strong footing and said the president was disappointed in economic coverage in the media. View More

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks onstage during The New York Times DealBook Summit 2025 at Jazz at Lincoln Center on December 03, 2025 in New York City. David Dee Delgado | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that it's been a "very strong" holiday shopping season so far and predicted that the U.S. economy would end the year on strong footing. "The economy has been better than we thought. We've had 4% GDP growth in a couple of quarters," he said in an interview on CBS News' 'Face the Nation.' "We're going to finish the year, despite the Schumer shutdown, with 3% real GDP growth."Gross domestic product contracted by 0.6% year-over-year for the first three months of 2025, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The second quarter of the year saw a 3.8% increase. Initial estimates from the BEA for the third quarter economic results are scheduled to publish on December 23. The latest estimate from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, on December 5, puts third-quarter annual GDP growth at 3.5%. Consumers, whose spending accounts for nearly 70% of U.S. GDP, remain gloomy about the state of the economy. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey came in at 53.3 in December, up 4.5% from November but down 28% from this time last year. More CNBC coverage on U.S. economyCore inflation rate watched by Fed hit 2.8%, delayed September data showsLayoff announcements top 1.1 million in 2025, the highest since 2020Bessent says Trump admin can replicate tariffs even if it loses Supreme Court decisionPrivate payrolls unexpectedly fell by 32,000 in November, ADP reports The latest report on inflation, delayed by the government shutdown, showed consumer prices rising 3% year-over-year in September, including a 3.1% uptick in cost for food at home. As rising prices continue to affect consumers, President Donald Trump has pushed back on the idea that Americans are struggling financially. "The word 'affordability' is a con job by the Democrats," Trump said during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. "The word 'affordability' is a Democrat scam."Lately, voters have expressed frustration with Trump's handling of the economy. Around two-thirds of registered voters say the Trump administration has fallen short on the economy and the cost of living, according to a recent poll from NBC News.When asked about Trump's comments on Sunday, Bessent said that the administration was dealing with inflation issues leftover from the Biden administration and pointed to media coverage as a source of Americans' view of the economy.  "The American people don't know how good they have it," he said. "Now, Democrats created scarcity, whether it was in energy or over-regulation, that we are now seeing this affordability problem, and I think next year we're going to move on to prosperity."

There are key changes for 401(k) plans coming in 2026. Here's how those updates could impact higher earners. View More

Kate_sept2004 | E+ | Getty Images As 2025 winds down, many financial advisors are preparing for 2026, which will bring key changes to saving for retirement in 401(k) plans. Among those shifts are contribution limit updates and a major tax change for certain investors, which could affect long-term planning. "The most impactful change for next year will be to high earners," said certified financial planner Juan Ros, a partner at Forum Financial Management, based in Scottsdale, Arizona. More from Your Money:Here's a look at more stories on how to manage, grow and protect your money for the years ahead.401(k) changes for 2026 —one is 'impactful' for high earners, CFP saysKeeping your 401(k) when you retire is getting easier. What you need to knowAt 22, she found $200,000 in debt in her name. It took a decade to get it removedHow Social Security services may change with three bills before CongressStudent loan borrowers, including higher earners, may soon qualify for lower billsStudent loans and year-end tax planning — 4 steps for borrowers to take'Buyers may be a little disappointed' by Black Friday car deals: analystTIAA CEO: Concerns about ‘AI bubble’ shouldn’t be retirement investors' main focusIt’s looking like a ‘K-shaped’ holiday season, reports showInvestors cashing in on gold's run face higher capital gains taxes By the end of 2025, more than 144 million Americans will participate in so-called "defined benefit plans" through an employer, such as 401(k) plans, according to the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association.The 401(k) changes for 2026 come as many Americans worry how inflation, stock market volatility and the U.S. political climate could impact their nest eggs.Here are some of the key things to know. Bigger 401(k) contribution limits Starting in 2026, you can funnel more savings into your 401(k).The employee deferral limit is $24,500 for 2026, up from $23,500 in 2025, the IRS announced in November. For investors age 50 or older, the catch-up contribution will increase to $8,000 in 2026, up from $7,500. The "super catch-up contribution" for savers age 60 to 63 remains at $11,250."These increases matter because they help retirement savers keep pace with rising incomes and inflation while reducing taxable income in high-earning years," said CFP André Small, founder of advisory firm A Small Investment in Humble, Texas. Currently, only a small percentage of 401(k) investors max out employee deferrals every year. In 2024, only 14% of 401(k) participants maxed out their plans, according to Vanguard's 2025 How America Saves report, based on more than 1,400 qualified plans and nearly 5 million participants. Typically, these investors are older, higher earners with longer tenure at their companies, the same report found. To that point, nearly half of Vanguard participants making more than $150,000 annually maxed out deferrals. On average, the combined 401(k) savings rate, including employer deposits, was estimated at 12% for 2024, according to Vanguard.  Higher earners could lose a tax break Typically, 401(k) catch-up contributions for investors age 50 and older can be traditional pretax or after-tax Roth, depending on what the plan allows.But starting in 2026, catch-up contributions generally must be after-tax Roth if you earned more than $150,000 from your current employer in 2025, according to the IRS. Enacted via the Secure 2.0 Act of 2022, this threshold was adjusted for inflation for 2026."Effectively, this change will mean high earners will pay more in tax now," said Ros from Forum Financial Management.Pretax 401(k) contributions provide an upfront tax break, but investors pay regular income taxes upon withdrawal. By comparison, after-tax Roth contribution growth is tax-free. Typically, the choice between Roth vs. pretax catch-up 401(k) contributions hinges on several factors, including your current and expected future tax brackets, experts say. While higher earners could lose a current-year tax break in 2026, they can run projections with an advisor to strategize for long-term tax planning goals.

Millennials hold more crypto than any other Americans and are nearing peak divorce years. Many married couples, and the legal system, are not prepared. View More

Fizkes | Istock | Getty Images Divorce always raises thorny questions of how to divide marital property. In most cases, the remedy is pretty straightforward, requiring a surgical split between the two parties' assets — although you can't do that with the family dog or aquarium. But if you thought deciding who gets the dog was complicated, here comes cryptocurrency. With the crypto wealth accumulation phase still new within many households, and the recent sharp decline in digital assets including bitcoin and ether dinging the confidence of investors who had just seen record highs, the path forward is murky. But for many married Americans, the current price of crypto doesn't even register as an issue. That's because the assets are easily squirreled away from an unsuspecting spouse."In divorce cases, crypto is creating the same headaches we've long seen with offshore accounts, except now the assets can be moved instantly and invisibly," said Mark Grabowski, professor of cyber law and digital ethics at Adelphi University and author of several books about cryptocurrencies. He added that the problem is that ownership isn't determined by a name on an account — it's determined by who holds the private keys."If one spouse controls the wallet, they effectively control the assets," Grabowski said. Lawyers now have to subpoena exchanges, trace transactions on the blockchain, and determine whether coins were purchased before or during the marriage."Without that transparency and given the lack of reporting standards, it's easy for one spouse to hide or underreport holdings. Courts are still catching up," Grabowski said.In theory, though, a crypto divorce should work like any other. Renee Bauer, a divorce attorney who has dealt with crypto splits, says the biggest question couples fight about is simple on the surface: who gets the wallet?"That question opens the door to a mess of complications that traditional property division never had to deal with," Bauer said.The first challenge is figuring out what actually exists."A retirement account comes with statements. A house has an address. Crypto may be sitting in an online exchange or in a hardware wallet that one spouse conveniently forgot to mention," Bauer said. Tracing it then becomes part detective work and part digital forensics. Once the digital asset is authenticated, hashing out custody comes next."Some spouses want to keep the digital wallet intact, especially if they are the one who managed it during the marriage, while others want a clean monetary split," Bauer said. Courts are still figuring out the best way to handle this."There is also the security piece. If one spouse hands over private keys, they are effectively turning over total control. If they refuse, the court has to decide how to enforce access," Bauer said.She recounts seeing one lawyer who didn't know much about crypto try to give the other spouse credit for the value of the bitcoin in another asset, not recognizing it's not so simple, nor fair."Many divorce lawyers are slow to catch up and don't even ask for disclosure. In my state of Connecticut, there isn't a spot for crypto specifically on the financial affidavits. And for some, that could mean missing a valuable asset if they aren't looking for it," Bauer said.Crypto hunters, PIs of digital asset divorce eraOne of the few companies that can help locate a missing asset is BlockSquared Forensics. Ryan Settles, founder and CEO of the Texas-based company, says that the need for his services has increased exponentially since he founded his company in 2023. BlockSquared is dedicated exclusively to the crypto aspects of family law and divorce. If a spouse (generally women, Settles says) suspects their partner is hiding crypto, their attorney may call in BlockSquared, which does anything from simple asset verification to deep investigations, tracing crypto across continents and into the murky world of wallets and exchanges. Settles' company will then present the spouse with a "storyboard" that traces and timestamps the movement of cryptocurrencies.Investigating whether one spouse has crypto is becoming increasingly common, he says, "especially folks involved in high-net-worth divorces and individuals with high net worth." Ryan Settles, founder and CEO of the Texas-based company BlockSquared Forensics, which offers services from simple asset verifications to deep investigations, often for women going through divorces who were unaware of spouses' crypto holdings.Ryan Settles Ferreting out crypto in a divorce is only going to become more common. Settles noted that millennials hold the highest amount of crypto, and over the next six months, this age group will be approaching peak divorce years, converging with increased crypto holdings.Another aspect Settles looks at is tax liability for the spouse, making sure that gets addressed during the divorce."There are a significant number of tax issues that most people, even attorneys, are not even familiar with," Settles says, adding that the number of taxable events and reporting requirements from even a single transaction can come as a surprise to even the most seasoned litigators."Most attorneys don't understand it, don't understand the terminology. There is a whole lot of trust without verification going on," Settles said.Many of his cases involve wives who were not only unaware of their husband's crypto dabbling, but when the assets are finally split, can be socked with a massive tax bill from capital gains."Unlike a savings account, the value of crypto can swing wildly in a single day," Bauer said. "Selling crypto to divide proceeds can trigger capital gains. Holding it can trigger new arguments when value changes," Bauer added. Relatively relaxed Internal Revenue Service reporting requirements for crypto have not helped, though they are set to get stricter starting with the 2025 tax year."There are so many pieces. There are a lot of attorneys doing nod and smile and pretend to understand," Settles said.But companies like his are usually brought in only when there is a good suspicion of a spouse hiding significant crypto assets, he said. With a retainer fee of $9,000 and investigations that can cost $50,000, Settles says his services often cost more than an attorney.Hard questions about crypto property splitsRoman Beck, a professor at Bentley University, where he directs the Crypto Ledger Lab, says that because this is a relatively new area, it's best to look at it as courts not dividing the digital wallet but instead the assets the wallet controls."The law treats crypto much less exotically than people think. The starting point is simple: for tax and most property-law purposes, cryptocurrency is treated as property, not as money," Beck said. In divorce, that means bitcoin, ether, stablecoins, and NFTs acquired during the marriage are usually part of the marital estate, just like a brokerage account or a second home, with how that property is split depending on the state."Courts don't split wallets, they split value," Beck said. The real legal question is not "Who gets the wallet?" he said, but 'How do we allocate the economic value the wallet represents, and who is trusted with technical custody afterward?"This leaves courts and lawyers to do one of three things: split the holdings on-chain, sell and split fiat, or offset with other assets."From a technical point of view, a wallet is just a set of private keys, often spread across hardware devices, mobile apps, or even seed phrases on a piece of paper. You cannot safely 'share' a hardware wallet or a private key after divorce," Beck said.Another wrinkle in a crypto divorce is the volatility of the underlying asset, with price swings in the currency making it more difficult for couples to agree on timing of a split, both as a couple and for the digital assets. In the past two months alone, bitcoin fell from a high over $126,000 to the low $80,000s, a 35% decline, and saw its year-to-date gains wiped out, with plenty of wild daily swings.If couples are thinking rationally and not emotionally, among the simplest solutions would be splitting the wallet on a chain to create two wallets for each of the divorced partners so they can continue holding their share of cryptos, or drawing up a legal agreement that gives shares of a wallet to each party."They would not have to sell immediately," Beck said. However, often one party is not familiar with holding a wallet and thus not comfortable with that solution. Similar to a house jointly owned which a divorcing couple may not want to bring to the market at a bad time, a couple could also agree to turn over crypto holdings to trusted third party to act as agent on behalf of both and to sell the crypto once the market has improved — once a certain agreed upon minimum value has been reached.But Beck added that while from an economic and technical point of view there is no barrier preventing a divorcing couple from keeping crypto assets using any of these methods to allocate a legal percentage to each partner and delay liquidation until market conditions improved, both parties need to agree, and "most just want to be done," he said.Blockchain ledger transparency and the courtsOne positive it that despite crypto's reputation as a haven of anonymity, other aspects of digital assets work well for divorce proceedings. "Public blockchains like bitcoin and ethereum are transparent ledgers. Every transaction is recorded forever. In other words, on-ledger data analytics turns the blockchain into a very patient financial witness," Beck said. "That leaves a perfect audit trail if you know how to read the chain. ... The real frontier isn't the law, it's the forensics," he added.Crypto's adoption by many Americans — surveys in recent years from Gallup and Pew Research estimate that 14% to 17% of U.S. adults have owned cryptocurrency — is forcing family law to become more data-driven."The combination of transparent ledgers and powerful analytics gives lawyers and judges better tools to reconstruct financial behavior than they ever had with cash. The policy question going forward is not whether we can trace, but how far courts will go in requiring that level of scrutiny in everyday divorces," Beck said.Still, that doesn't mean people won't keep trying to hide assets. Settles says that often within 20 minutes he'll see movement on the ledgers."They'll start scrambling their assets, moving things, hiding things, moving them to tumblers. It's quite fascinating," Settles said.And traceable.

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"A few European countries now allow in-country applications," says She Hit Refresh founder Cepee Tabibian. These 4 let you move first and handle visa paperwork later. View More

I tried for over a decade to move to Spain. I went to study Spanish at 21, teach English at 26, and get my master's at 29, but always ended up back in the U.S. Back then, my options to stay long-term seemed so limited: get transferred through a company, marry a local, or have rare skills that qualified for a work visa. I didn't fit any of those boxes.I finally made my last move to Spain in 2015, at age 35, and I'm now a proud citizen. As the founder of She Hit Refresh — where I've helped hundreds of other women move abroad — I often think about how much easier it is to relocate these days, thanks especially to the rise of digital nomad visas. Traditionally, you have to apply for visas from your home country, which can mean long processing times at consulates, strict requirements, lots of paperwork, and waiting in the U.S. until your visa is approved. But a few European countries now allow in-country applications. Keep in mind that aside from any local financial requirements for a visa or permit, other costs and considerations can include relocation specialists and lawyers who can help facilitate the process.Here are four countries in Europe that let you relocate first and handle the visa paperwork after you arrive. 1. Spain Spain is one of the most popular destinations for Americans moving abroad. With its sunshine, warm culture, stunning scenery, and affordability for those with a U.S. income, it's easy to understand why.Spain launched its digital nomad visa in 2023 for freelancers, the self-employed, and remote employees. Apply from the U.S. and you'll be issued a one-year visa, but apply from Spain and you can get a three-year permit. Among the women I've worked with, processing times from Spain seem to be faster, too, sometimes just a few weeks.Before you go, gather key documents in the U.S., especially your FBI background check and apostille, or certificate of authentication, since they're more complicated to obtain once you're abroad. You'll also be asked to provide proof of remote work and income.Giovanna Gonzalez, 36, moved from Chicago to Valencia in April 2025. "We booked a trip to Spain so we could apply from within the country," says Gonzalez, who tells me her experience was smooth, particularly with the help of an immigration attorney. "We were approved in only two and a half weeks."Her advice? Work with a relocation specialist for housing, since finding a place quickly as an American without a local work contract can be challenging.  2. Greece Greece is not only a popular vacation spot, but also an appealing destination for remote workers seeking sunshine on the Mediterranean coast, a slower pace, and lower cost of living. If I ever decide to relocate, I'd move to Greece.What most people don't realize is that Greece offers two separate options for remote workers: a digital nomad visa and a digital nomad residence permit. You have to apply for the digital nomad visa, which grants a one-year stay, from your home country. But you can apply for the digital nomad residence permit, which is valid for two years, once you're already in Greece. You'll need to show proof of monthly income of at least €3,500, health insurance, and a rental contract or property ownership.One of my podcast guests, Kathleen O'Donnell, 40, moved from Boston to Athens in 2022 and chose the residence permit. "It was such a relief not to have to fly back to the U.S. to apply," she says. "The process took time, but it was worth it for the flexibility." While you can apply on your own, O'Donnell says she hired a lawyer, which "made the process much less stressful." 3. The Netherlands The Dutch-American Friendship Treaty (DAFT) allows freelancers and self-employed U.S. citizens to live and work in the Netherlands by registering a new or existing business and depositing €4,500 into a Dutch business bank account. You can apply and get the ball rolling on your DAFT visa after arriving. Remote employees don't qualify, meaning you can't be a W-2 employee. Stacy Holt, 44, moved to the Netherlands with her family in 2023. "We sold everything, rented a house we'd only seen on video, and applied once we arrived," she says. "It was definitely a stressful time, but within two months I had my residency card and my business registered." She tells me she moved for a better quality of life for her children, and to escape the stress of active shooter drills and future student debt for them. Her tip: Bring savings and patience, as housing can be difficult to secure without local rental history. 4. Albania Albania may not be on your radar, but it's becoming a popular soft-landing spot for Americans. It's affordable, welcoming, and ideal if you want to "test-drive" life abroad without having to navigate complicated visa systems first.U.S. citizens can stay in Albania for up to a year, visa-free. Those who want to stay longer can apply for a residence permit in-country.Monica Miranda, 45, moved from Jersey City to Vlorë with her dog. She initially planned to stay a few months, but has now been there nearly two years. "Getting my residency was easier than I expected," she says. "I hired a lawyer, submitted my documents, and received a provisional visa within a week."Cepee Tabibian is the founder of She Hit Refresh, a community and resource platform that helps women aged 30+ move abroad. She's the author of "I'm Outta Here! An American's Ultimate Visa Guide to Living in Europe″ and host of the She Hit Refresh podcast. As the daughter of Colombian and Iranian immigrants, Cepee grew up in Houston, Texas, before becoming an immigrant herself in Spain. Follow her @shehitrefresh.Want to stand out, grow your network, and get more job opportunities? Sign up today for Smarter by CNBC Make It's new online course, How to Build a Standout Personal Brand: Online, In Person, and At Work. Learn how to showcase your skills, build a stellar reputation, and create a digital presence that AI can't replicate. VIDEO7:3107:31We're much happier living in Spain than in the U.S. — here's how much it costsLife

Multiple media reports indicate the Justice Department will investigate the deal. View More

ICICI Prudential AMC’s IPO is drawing strong interest in the grey market, with the GMP signalling a potential 13% listing gain. Investors will watch subscription trends, institutional demand, and valuation comfort as the issue progresses. Market mood, flows into equity funds, and how peers like HDFC AMC and Nippon India AMC trade this week will also influence sentiment. View More

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company’s Rs 10,603 crore initial public offering is already heating up ahead of its launch on Friday, with a grey-market premium of Rs 280 per share pointing to a potential 13% listing pop, an early signal of strong demand for one of the year’s most anticipated offerings in India’s asset-management sector. The fund house has set a price band of Rs 2,061–2,165 per share for the offer, which will open on Friday, December 12, and close on Tuesday, December 16. The anchor book opens on Thursday, December 11. Investors can bid for a minimum of 6 equity shares and in multiples of 6 thereafter. ICICI Prudential AMC GMP points to 13% gain In the unofficial market, ICICI Prudential AMC shares were quoting at a premium of Rs 280 over the upper end of the price band, implying an estimated listing price of Rs 2,445. The 13% grey-market pricing suggests investors are positioning for a firm debut. Pure offer for sale from Prudential The IPO is entirely an offer for sale, with promoter Prudential Corporation Holdings Limited set to divest up to 48,972,994 equity shares. The offering comes as the AMC consolidates its leadership as India’s largest active mutual fund manager by quarterly average AUM. India’s largest active fund manager ICICI Prudential AMC, a joint venture between ICICI Bank (51%) and Prudential Corporation Holdings Limited (49%), has been operating since 1998. As of FY25, it held a 13.3% share of India’s active mutual fund industry, with total QAAUM of Rs 8.8 lakh crore. Live Events A recent CRISIL report shows its equity and equity-oriented QAAUM market share at 13.4%, the highest in the category. Its hybrid-equity funds also lead the industry by market share. ICICI Prudential AMC’s financial trajectory The company’s financial performance underscores its scale. Profit after tax rose at a CAGR of 32.2% between FY23 and FY25 to Rs 2,650.6 crore. Profit before tax grew at a 32% CAGR over three years to Rs 3,240 crore, cementing its status as India’s most profitable AMC on an operating basis. Lead managers A wide slate of global and domestic banks is managing the offer. The Book Running Lead Managers include Citigroup Global Markets India Private Limited, ICICI Securities Limited, Morgan Stanley India Company Private Limited, Goldman Sachs (India) Securities Private Limited, BofA Securities India Limited, Avendus Capital Private Limited, Axis Capital Limited, BNP Paribas and HDFC Bank . KFin Technologies Limited is the registrar. Also read | ICICI Prudential AMC sets Rs 2,061–2,165 price band for its Rs 10,603 crore IPO (Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times) .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel) (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)

The Federal Reserve is expected to cut rates this week, setting the scene for other central banks' final policy meetings for 2025. View More

A construction workers paints an eagle on the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building, the main offices of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, on Sept. 16, 2025 in Washington, DC.Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images The arrival of December has heralded a shift in sentiment towards the Federal Reserve's next move.Just three weeks ago, the market did not view a rate cut in the final month of the year as a sure bet, with the drip feed of economic data and more hawkish sentiment from central bank officials pushing the implied probability of a rate reduction below 50%, according to the CME gauge. A Christmas cut? Fast forward a few weeks, and a Christmas cut is very much back on the table. Berenberg cites the recent uptick in the unemployment rate as being enough to tip Fed officials towards a 25-basis-point rate reduction next week. On Friday, Morgan Stanley reversed its December call to a quarter-percentage point cut, with strategists saying "it seems we jumped the gun." JPMorgan and Bank of America are also forecasting a cut based on more recent dovishness from Fed officials. When the Fed sneezes... So how will this dovish shift play out internationally? First up, the Swiss National Bank releases its policy decision on Thursday. The overwhelming expectation is for the SNB to hold interest rates at 0.00% despite recent inflation and GDP growth readings coming in weaker.However, Nomura expects prices and growth to increase in 2026, adding "the bar to a negative policy rate is high." This sentiment is echoed by BNP Paribas, with economists in a recent note expecting the SNB to stay on hold until the second half of 2027. Mixed messages The picture is different for the Bank of England. The Monetary Policy Committee meets on Dec. 18, and opinion is split on the next move. T. Rowe Price believes a rate cut is likely, predicting further labor market deteriorations over the coming months, forecasting rates to go down to 3% of lower in 2026. However, Berenberg says the conditions for a cut won't be met in time for the December meeting, and will instead come in the new year. Speaking to CNBC, Bank of England rate setter Megan Greene thought stubborn inflation and labor market dynamics would delay rate cuts for now. watch nowVIDEO15:3115:31Persistent inflation may delay rate cuts, says Bank of England rate-setterSquawk Box Europe ECB seen staying the course, BOJ to hike? The European Central Bank is also preparing for its final rate-setting meeting of the year. After keeping rates at 2% for the second consecutive meeting back in October, Deutsche Bank believes "rates are likely to be kept on hold through the energy-induced inflation undershoot in 2026." Finally, it seems December could bring a hike from the Bank of Japan, with multiple reports from Reuters and Bloomberg suggesting the Japanese government will not try and prevent the central bank from raising rates in a couple of weeks. But this could create more volatility, particularly in the bond market, where yields on 10-year JGBs have surged to their strongest level since 2007. Central bank events in December: December 10: Federal Reserve policy decisionDecember 11: Swiss National Bank policy decision December 18: Bank of England policy decisionDecember 18: European Central Bank policy decision December 19: Bank of Japan policy decision