When investors looked back on 2025, the words that came up most often were “uncertainty” and “volatility”, but it turned out to be “a very good year for almost all asset classes”, said Michael Cross, the firm’s Asia chief investment officer, referring to recent discussions with clients.
For global markets, concerns about trade policies were offset by the strength of underlying fundamentals and positive factors including a rate-cutting cycle, Cross said.
“We think 2026 will be another continuation, perhaps with more muted asset price rises, but still a pretty good year,” he said.
The base case for 2026 is that growth would remain resilient enough for earnings outside the US to continue catching up, according to Cross, who highlighted the rebound in emerging markets this year.
“China is expected to hit its growth target,” he said.
