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( ) shares currently come with a of 9.3%. That’s higher than the average, well above , and a lot better than the interest available on cash. That makes it look as though investors looking for passive income should be piling into the stock. If only it were that easy – the reality is (unfortunately) a bit more complicated. Five-year returns Five years ago, Legal & General was trading with a 6.6% dividend yield. Things were different back then, but this was still an eye-catching return. Since then, the company has grown its shareholder distributions each year. The average annual increase has been only around 3%, but it’s been impressively consistent. The trouble is, this hasn’t translated into a great result for shareholders. While it has paid out a total of 94.37p per share, this has mostly been offset by the stock falling 82.44p in that time. As a result, investors who bought the stock in December 2020 are 3.9% in total on their investment. That’s lower than the FTSE 100, well below inflation, and even worse than the return available on cash. Is the dividend safe? A 9.3% dividend offers a lot more protection from a falling share price than a 6.6% one. And the yield hasn’t been at this level at any point in the last 10 years. Management is forecasting a 2% annual increase in the dividend with additional cash to be distributed through share buybacks. But investors might initially wonder how Legal & General is going to fund this. The firm currently pays out more to shareholders than it brings in as net income. But while this might look like a source of concern, it’s probably less of a risk than it initially appears. At the end of 2023, Legal & General has more than £9bn of excess capital after meeting its Solvency Capital Requirement. This should mean the company is able to meet its ongoing dividend commitments. Outlook In terms of future growth, Legal & General’s main engine is its Pensions Risk Transfer business. It takes on future guaranteed pension obligations from other companies – in exchange for a fee. Management is optimistic about the pipeline for new deals over the next few years. But investors need to be clear that the quality is there as well as the quantity. Getting cash up front before paying out costs later is a nice structure. But the deals have an asymmetric risk structure – the amount Legal & General can make is fixed while the potential liabilities are not. Even including the returns the firm can generate by investing the premiums, it will be a long time until the profitability of the contracts becomes clear. And this is where the risk comes from for investors. A no-brainer? As an investment, Legal & General shares are anything but a no-brainer. The nature of the firm’s potential liabilities means there’s a lot of uncertainty about the future, especially over the long term. That’s why the dividend yield is so high – investors need something to give them a margin of safety against the ongoing risks. While 9.3% might be enough for some, I’m looking elsewhere.

Power couple: green energy, gas giant bet on renewablesAP News Summary at 12:48 p.m. EST

Schedule subject to change and/or blackouts Monday, Dec. 9 COLLEGE BASKETBALL (MEN’S) 6:30 p.m. BTN — Minnesota at Indiana 8 p.m. CBSSN — Abilene Christian at Baylor COLLEGE SOCCER (WOMEN’S) 7 p.m. ESPNU — NCAA Tournament: Wake Forest vs. North Carolina, Championship NBA BASKETBALL 7:30 p.m. NBATV — New York at Toronto NFL FOOTBALL 8:15 p.m. ABC — Cincinnati at Dallas ESPN — Cincinnati at Dallas ESPN2 — Cincinnati at Dallas (MNF with Peyton and Eli) NHL HOCKEY 7 p.m. NHLN — Chicago at N.Y. Rangers SOCCER (MEN’S) 3 p.m. USA — Premier League: Wolverhampton at West Ham United The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive TV listings provided by LiveSportsOnTV .

I've taken weight-loss jabs for 6 years, says SARAH VINE. Here's the TEN things everyone must know...

Mortgage rates ended 2024 with a bang – but not the kind that’s good for borrowers. And for anyone in the market for a home – or a refinance – 2025 may not be much kinder. In the week ending Dec. 26, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.85%, mortgage guarantor Freddie Mac said Thursday . The popular loan product averaged 6.72% throughout the year, compared to 6.81% throughout 2023, even as the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate three times in 2024. It’s not surprising that mortgage rates haven’t followed bank interest rates downward. As USA TODAY has previously reported, rates for home loans take their cue from the bond market , which the Fed does not directly influence. The bigger question is what will happen in 2025. As analysts and housing market watchers have noted repeatedly, multiple factors may keep inflation simmering in the coming months. Buy that dream house: See the best mortgage lenders The fiscal policies promised by President-elect Donald Trump are the big one. Bright MLS Chief Economist Lisa Sturtevant had this to say after the November election : “Bond yields are rising because investors expect Trump’s proposed fiscal policies to widen the federal deficit and reverse progress on inflation.” More: Lock in a mortgage rate after the Fed cuts? This might be your last chance On Dec. 19, the day after t he Fed delivered its final interest rate cut of 2024 , Apollo Global Management’s Torsten Slok wrote in a note to clients, “The strong economy, combined with the potential for lower taxes, higher tariffs, and restrictions on immigration, has increased the risk that the Fed will have to hike rates in 2025. We see a 40% probability that the Fed will raise interest rates in 2025.” That could mean a repeat of 2022, Slok added: inflation that’s too high, rising interest rates, falling stock prices. In the housing market, 2022 wasn’t an awful year. Some 503,000 previously-owned homes were sold that year, versus 409,000 in 2023, and likely about that many this year. One big difference is the price of homes. Throughout 2022, the median price of homes sold was $392,800, while the median sale price in November 2024, the most recent data available, was $406,000. Will prices have to dip slightly to get back to a stronger pace of sales, particularly if rates remain elevated? Analysts say no, unfortunately. “Elevated mortgage rates will cause many homeowners to hang onto their homes − and the low rates they have locked in,” wrote Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari in a recent analysis. “That means there will be enough buyers competing over a relatively low number of homes to keep prices ticking up consistently.”The Falcons are sticking with Kirk Cousins and may get a break thanks to a soft scheduleDetroit Lions: Winners and Losers From Week 14Jammu and Kashmir has received a total of Rs 69.58 lakhs for the development of wildlife habitats over the last two years, an official data reveals. According to data accessed, Rs 69.58 lakh were allocated to J&K in 2023 and 2024 under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for the development of wildlife habitats. An official said that this initiative aims to strengthen the conservation and management of J&K’s diverse and ecologically significant wildlife habitats. “By providing financial support, the scheme seeks to promote biodiversity, protect endangered species, and improve the overall health of natural ecosystems in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said, as per news agency KNO. The Ministry’s scheme, Development of Wildlife Habitats, also focuses on holistic habitat management, including measures to mitigate human-animal conflicts. “It provides funding for various interventions such as animal-proof fencing, anti-depredation squads, rapid response teams, ex-gratia relief, and technology-based animal tracking systems,” the official said

Former PM Manmohan Singh passes awayGreece: More action needed to maintain strong growth and fiscal sustainability

Drop in Boxing Day footfall ‘signals return to declining pre-pandemic levels’

Sports on TV for Monday, Dec. 9

Drop in Boxing Day footfall ‘signals return to declining pre-pandemic levels’What a wonderful year 2024 has been for investors. U.S. stocks ripped higher and carried the S&P 500 to records as the economy kept growing and the Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates. The year featured many familiar winners, such as Big Tech, which got even bigger as their stock prices kept growing . But it wasn’t just Apple, Nvidia and the like. Bitcoin , gold and other investments also drove higher. Here’s a look at some of the numbers that defined the year. All are as of Dec. 20. 1998 Remember when President Bill Clinton got impeached or when baseball’s Mark McGwire hit his 70th home run against the Montreal Expos? That was the last time the U.S. stock market closed out a second straight year with a leap of at least 20%, something the S&P 500 is on track to do again this year. The index has climbed 24.3% so far this year, not including dividends, following last year’s spurt of 24.2%. 57 The number of all-time highs the S&P 500 has set so far this year. The first came early, on Jan. 19, when the index capped a two-year comeback from the swoon caused by high inflation and worries that high interest rates instituted by the Federal Reserve to combat it would create a recession. But the index was methodical through the rest of the year, setting a record in every month outside of April and August, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. The latest came on Dec. 6. 3 The number of times the Federal Reserve has cut its main interest rate this year from a two-decade high, offering some relief to the economy. Expectations for those cuts, along with hopes for more in 2025, were a big reason the U.S. stock market has been so successful this year. The 1 percentage point of cuts, though, is still short of the 1.5 percentage points that many traders were forecasting for 2024 at the start of the year. The Fed disappointed investors in December when it said it may cut rates just two more times in 2025, fewer than it had earlier expected. 1,508 That’s how many points the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by the day after Election Day, as investors made bets on what Donald Trump’s return to the White House will mean for the economy and the world . The more widely followed S&P 500 soared 2.5% for its best day in nearly two years. Aside from bitcoin, stocks of banks and smaller winners were also perceived to be big winners. The bump has since diminished amid worries that Trump’s policies could also send inflation higher. $100,000 The level that bitcoin topped to set a record above $108,000 this past month. It’s been climbing as interest rates come down, and it got a particularly big boost following Trump’s election. He’s turned around and become a fan of crypto, and he’s named a former regulator who’s seen as friendly to digital currencies as the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, replacing someone who critics said was overly aggressive in his oversight. Bitcoin was below $17,000 just two years ago following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. 26.7% Gold’s rise for the year, as it also hit records and had as strong a run as U.S. stocks. Wars around the world have helped drive demand for investments seen as safe, such as gold. It’s also benefited from the Fed’s cut to interest rates. When bonds are paying less in interest, they pull away fewer potential buyers from gold, which pays investors nothing. $420 It’s a favorite number of Elon Musk, and it’s also a threshold that Tesla’s stock price passed in December as it set a record. The number has a long history among marijuana devotees, and Musk famously said in 2018 that he had secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 per share . Tesla soared this year, up from less than $250 at the start, in part because of expectations that Musk’s close relationship with Trump could benefit the company. $91.2 billion That’s how much revenue Nvidia made in the nine months through Oct. 27, showing how the artificial-intelligence frenzy is creating mountains of cash. Nvidia’s chips are driving much of the move into AI, and its revenue through the last nine months catapulted from less than $39 billion the year before. Such growth has boosted Nvidia’s worth to more than $3 trillion in total. 74% GameStop’s gain on May 13 after Keith Gill, better known as “Roaring Kitty,” appeared online for the first time in three years to support the video game retailer’s stock, which he helped rocket to unimaginable heights during the “ meme stock craze ” in 2021. Several other meme stocks also jumped following his post in May on the social platform X, including AMC Entertainment. Gill later disclosed a sizeable stake in the online pet products retailer Chewy, but he sold all of his holdings by late October . 1.6%, 3.0% and 3.1% That’s how much the U.S. economy grew, at annualized seasonally adjusted rates, in each of the three first quarters of this year. Such growth blew past what many pessimists were expecting when inflation was topping 9% in the summer of 2022. The fear was that the medicine prescribed by the Fed to beat high inflation — high interest rates — would create a recession. Households at the lower end of the income spectrum in particular are feeling pain now, as they contend with still-high prices. But the overall economy has remained remarkably resilient. 20.1% This is the vacancy rate for U.S. office buildings — an all-time high — through the first three quarters of 2024, according to data from Moody’s. The fact the rate held steady for most of the year was something of a win for office building owners, given that it had marched up steadily from 16.8% in the fourth quarter of 2019. Demand for office space weakened as the pandemic led to the popularization of remote work. 3.73 million That’s the total number of previously occupied homes sold nationally through the first 11 months of 2024. Sales would have to surge 20% year-over-year in December for 2024’s home sales to match the 4.09 million existing homes sold in 2023, a nearly 30-year low. The U.S. housing market has been in a sales slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. A shortage of homes for sale and elevated mortgage rates have discouraged many would-be homebuyers. -- The Associated PressUtah St. 41, San Diego State 20

By GREG BEACHAM PASADENA, Calif. — The Rose Bowl is the next stop on No. 1 Oregon’s national championship quest. And Ohio State or Tennessee will be the Ducks’ opponent in the 111th edition of the Granddaddy of Them All. Oregon (13-0) received the top seed in the first 12-team College Football Playoff on Dec. 8, sending the Ducks to celebrate the new year in Pasadena for the ninth time in school history as they continue to fight for their first national championship. But first, the eighth-seeded Buckeyes (10-2) and the ninth-seeded Volunteers (10-2) will meet in Columbus on Dec. 21, to determine Oregon’s opponent in the Rose Bowl Game, which is also a playoff quarterfinal. The first-round matchup pits a pair of college football powerhouses with little history together. The Volunteers beat the Buckeyes, 20-14, in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, 1996, in the schools’ only previous meeting. Ohio State got home-field advantage despite missing out on a Big Ten title game date with Oregon after a humiliating 13-10 loss at home to Michigan last month. The Buckeyes also lost a 32-31 thriller to the Ducks in Eugene in October, but they might still get that rematch in California. Oregon is clearly the class of this jumbled college football season, finishing as the only undefeated team in the FBS and the No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 after holding off Penn State 45-37 to win its first Big Ten championship. The Ducks’ road to a title looks fairly daunting with two elite opponents vying for their quarterfinal shot, and social media filled up with fans and commentators bemoaning the relative difficulty of Oregon’s path. The rough road doesn’t bother Oregon coach Dan Lanning, however. “What an opportunity, right?” Lanning said on ESPN. “We focus on the things that you can control, and winning a national championship isn’t supposed to be easy. If our path is a little bit tougher, kudos to us if we go through it and take care of business.” For decades, the Rose Bowl cherished its position as a near-annual meeting of teams from the Big Ten and the West Coast conference most recently known as the Pac-12. The breakup of the Pac-12 and the permanent change in the Rose Bowl’s postseason position happened simultaneously over the past year, throwing the bowl’s future into flux. But Oregon’s familiar presence in Pasadena next month will smooth that change significantly — and if the Ducks’ opponent is Ohio State, the traditionalists will still get exactly what they crave out of this game anyway. Oregon and Ohio State met in the Rose Bowl in 1958 and again on Jan. 1, 2010, with Terrelle Pryor leading the Buckeyes to a 26-17 victory. Oregon is 4-4 in its previous trips to the Rose Bowl, and the modern Ducks have spent their holiday in Pasadena four times since 2010. They’ve won in their past three appearances in the Granddaddy, most recently beating Wisconsin 28-27 in Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert’s final game for his hometown school in 2020. Ohio State has made 16 previous appearances in the Rose Bowl, third-most in the game’s history behind USC (34) and Michigan (21). The Buckeyes have won their last four games in Pasadena, most recently beating Washington in 2019 and Utah in 2022. A trip to Pasadena would be a treat for Tennessee’s vast fan base. The Vols made two trips to the Rose Bowl during the 1940s, but they haven’t been back there since 1945. Oregon and Tennessee have faced each other twice, with the Ducks winning both matchups in 2010 and in 2013. What: CFP quarterfinal When: 8 p.m., Dec. 21 Where: Ohio Stadium, Columbus Records: Tennessee 10-2, Ohio State 10-2 For the record: Winner advances to face Oregon in the Rose Bowl

(All times Eastern) Schedule subject to change and/or blackouts Monday, Dec. 9 COLLEGE BASKETBALL (MEN’S) 6:30 p.m. BTN — Minnesota at Indiana 8 p.m. CBSSN — Abilene Christian at Baylor COLLEGE SOCCER (WOMEN’S) 7 p.m. ESPNU — NCAA Tournament: Wake Forest vs. North Carolina, Championship NBA BASKETBALL 7:30 p.m. NBATV — New York at Toronto NFL FOOTBALL 8:15 p.m. ABC — Cincinnati at Dallas ESPN — Cincinnati at Dallas ESPN2 — Cincinnati at Dallas (MNF with Peyton and Eli) NHL HOCKEY 7 p.m. NHLN — Chicago at N.Y. Rangers SOCCER (MEN’S) 3 p.m. USA — Premier League: Wolverhampton at West Ham United The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive TV listings provided by LiveSportsOnTV .Ice Tropez – categorised as a “wine cocktail” – has responded to the public backlash following a social media post advertising its non-alcoholic version for the whole family. The French brand has come under fire over its products, which look strikingly similar in their packaging. ICE TROPEZ SOCIAL MEDIA BACKLASH: WHAT HAPPENED? On Instagram, popular mommy influencer Vongai Mapho courted controversy over a paid post advertising Ice Tropez’s non-alcoholic cocktails for the whole family. She posted, “Did you know, unlike other non-alcoholic beverages, Ice Tropez Zero is not de-alcoholised? It’s 100% alcohol-free, making it perfectly safe for expecting moms, kids, and the whole family to enjoy.” While the items were clearly from the non-alcoholic range, they did look strikingly similar to the bottles, which contain 6.50% alcohol. And social media users were just as confused. WOULD YOU GIVE YOUR KIDS NON-ALCOHOLIC ICE TROPEZ? Let us know by clicking on the comment tab below this article or by emailing info@thesouthafrican.com or sending a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 You can also follow @TheSAnews on X and The South African on Facebook for the latest news.

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson kept the overall lead in fan voting numbers revealed Monday for the NFL Pro Bowl Games with Philadelphia running back Saquon Barkley a close second. Jackson topped vote-getters with 82,402 and Barkley was next, only 320 votes behind. Barkley was 4,079 votes back of Jackson in last week's first voting results. Eagles star Barkley, who set a team one-season rushing record on Sunday in a victory over Carolina, leaped ahead of Ravens rusher Derrick Henry, who fell to third on 76,582. Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was fourth on 73,627 with Detroit Lions rusher Jahmyr Gibbs fifth on 73,617. The Lions garnered the most votes from NFL fans overall followed by Baltimore, two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City, Philadelphia and Minnesota. The NFL's all-star event will be staged February 2 in Orlando, Florida, for the second consecutive year as 88 players take part in skills competitions, including a flag football showdown with former NFL star quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning serving as coaches. Fan voting concludes on December 23. No other voting totals were revealed but top vote-getters at their position in the AFC and NFC also were revealed, including NFC rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels of Washington and wide receivers Justin Jefferson of Minnesota in the NFC and Ja'Marr Chase of Cincinnati in the AFC. js/bb