All eyes will rightly be on the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision Wednesday. But the meeting of another central bank across the Pacific will be quite consequential too.

While Jerome Powell is pondering whether to cut rates now for the first time in more than four years or perhaps wait a couple more months, Kazuo Ueda, his counterpart in Japan, is considering whether to do the opposite. After the Bank of Japan 8301 2.85%increase; green up pointing triangle exited its negative-interest-rate regime in March, investors are looking for more tightening to come.

Below, some of the best analysis and insight from WSJ writers and columnists, the Dow Jones Newswires team and occasionally beyond, on investing, the wealth-management business and more.

Mortgage servicers have benefited in multiple ways from higher rates and a slow housing market.

From Dow Jones Newswires

Global credit assets are likely to perform well in 2024, boosted by strong investor demand, moderating economic growth, decelerating inflation and interest-rate cuts by central banks, Morgan Stanley Research analysts say in a note. Weaker-than-expected growth would be bad for credit, however, even as central banks lower interest rates. "We think policy is restrictive and the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England will be cutting [interest rates] over August-September," they say. ([email protected])

U.K. banks' use of the Bank of England lending facilities to access liquidity is expected to increase in the coming months as the BOE continues to unwind its bond holdings, Jakub Lichwa portfolio manager at asset management company Twenty Four says in a note. The BOE introduced the short-term repo facility in October 2022, at the start of the BOE gilt sale program, to provide short-term funding to banks. "Over time [BOE lending facilities] should mean greater stability through reduced funding and liquidity risk, and perhaps even eliminate the stigma around banks using central bank facilities altogether," he says. ([email protected])

While no one likes volatility, recent moves have helped right what has been a seriously out-of-whack stock market. The market’s new, more stable posture could set up investors for further gains later this year.

Medical tests using small amounts of blood are being rolled out, achieving what the Silicon Valley startup couldn’t.

Range anxiety is bad for battery demand but good news for Chinese PHEV makers.

Cohasset and Scituate were friendly for more than 250 years. Now, the Massachusetts neighbors can’t find common ground. The reason: oysters.

Arki Busson, whose romantic life has been fodder for London tabloids, is setting his $1 billion production studio in working-class Bayonne.

Buy Side from WSJ: The Best Bluetooth Trackers for Finding Your Stuff

The Wealth Adviser Briefing covers topics of interest to wealth managers, financial planners and other advisers. The content is curated by the Dow Jones Newswires team using articles from the Newswires, Barron's, MarketWatch and The Wall Street Journal. The briefing is delivered to subscribers by email each workday morning at 6:30 a.m. ET. You can sign up here for email delivery. 

Enjoying this newsletter? Get more from WSJ and support our journalism by subscribing today with this special offer.

For more information about our services for financial professionals, please visit DowJones.com

We welcome feedback. Please email [email protected] or contact Dwight Oestricher at [email protected]