Yanni Yang

Global markets enter 2026 amid cautious optimism and structural change. In equities, developed markets face elevated valuations and policy uncertainty, yet resilient earnings and early-stage AI investment underpin productivity and corporate growth. Emerging markets offer more attractive valuations, supported by improving earnings, a softer US dollar and targeted liquidity measures, which may provide support for SA equity.

For fixed income, desynchronised cycles across major economies create opportunities for active management. The US and UK are easing, the ECB is on hold, and Japan is still hiking, favouring selective positioning in high-quality bonds, EM fixed income and inflation-protected assets.

Several transformative forces are reshaping investment strategy: AI, which is driving global productivity and capital investment; fragmentation, which is altering trade, supply chains and energy dynamics; and potentially structurally higher, more volatile inflation, unless offset by AI-driven productivity gains. We prefer to stay diversified and maintain flexibility should circumstances shift suddenly and drastically.

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