An in-depth look at the latest economic and market developments Issue | First Quarter 2026 Global markets began 2026 with a constructive tone, building on the momentum of late 2025. January was marked by improving market breadth, with U.S. small caps and emerging markets leading returns. Equal-weight indices outperformed cap-weighted...

As of midday Thursday, global equities were mixed on the week, caught between Mideast optimism and a hawkish Fed. The yield on the US 10-year Treasury note edged down 5 basis points from Friday to 4.43%, while the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude fell $10.50 to...

The start of 2026 has seen mega forces dominate the headlines, from AI to geopolitical fragmentation with the disruptions from the Middle East conflict. We have seen the AI theme strengthen since the start of the year

As war in the Middle East adds to a series of global supply shocks, emerging markets are showing growing resilience in an increasingly multipolar world.

Portfolio Manager Nick Sheridan explores why shifting market leadership, geopolitical uncertainty, and changing investor behaviour are bringing smaller companies back into focus, offering a broader set of opportunities beyond the most crowded trades.

Developed-market bond markets are sending a message that investors can no longer afford to ignore. What began as a higher-for-longer rate adjustment has evolved into something much broader.

AI infrastructure investment is boosting the outlook for risk assets, particularly U.S. equities, despite geopolitical risks. Credit markets could face challenges as companies increase bond issuance.

As data centres hit the physical limits of copper, a quiet corner of Europe’s industrial base finds itself at the heart of solving AI’s next infrastructure challenge.

Energy prices matter—but the bigger shock may hit other areas that feed into inflation and growth. 

Warsh has signaled sweeping changes to how the Fed operates that would not require congressional approval, which could change how markets price the Fed.

A review of the week’s top global economic and capital markets news.

Easy globalisation is over: multipolarity, bottlenecks and public dissatisfaction are reshaping the world. For investors, that means old assumptions are less reliable and resilience matters more.