Our quarterly review of the main themes shaping global investment markets, and what they could mean for your portfolio. This issue covers the first quarter of 2026.
What’s inside this issue
Markets stayed resilient through the quarter despite rising geopolitical tension and stubborn inflation, held up largely by the big US technology companies and the money pouring into AI infrastructure. We look at why bond markets stayed volatile, the growing link between AI and energy demand, and the gap that opened up between strong markets and softer economic data.
The bigger picture
One theme runs through the whole quarter: the sheer scale of AI investment. The largest US firms are on track to spend more than 700 billion dollars on AI infrastructure this year alone, and that spending is now rippling out into power grids, utilities and industrial materials. It is a genuine long term shift, but it also means markets are leaning heavily on a small number of companies, which is exactly why diversification still matters.
