Global growth is slow but steady, AI is driving investment cycles, and central banks are backstopping risk. Explore our 2026 outlook: equity conviction, monetary policy shifts, and the evolving role of gold and EM debt in balanced portfolios.

Data releases will be sparse during the holiday season as Christmas and New Year’s Day festivities around the world are expected to cool down financial market activity.

As it has over the past 2 years, credit remains an asset class of choice for global fixed income investors. The combination of enduringly sound fundamentals, powerful technical forces, and generous yields has rendered credit a rare anchor of stability in a world still wrestling with volatility and policy uncertainty.

Data-dependent investors may be well rewarded heading into Christmas, with a heavy US data slate – including the delayed jobs report and the key inflation prints.

For investors, the focus will be on the Fed’s decision and any accompanying dissents, while other key central bank meetings include those of the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of Canada, and the Swiss National Bank.

Candriam has once again been awarded five stars across all modules in the 2025 UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Assessment, confirming its leadership and long-standing commitment to responsible investing.

At the start of the final month of the year, investor focus will be on global PMIs to gain insights into activity, prices and jobs in the manufacturing and services sector globally.

The loss of biodiversity has financial and investment implications. While not-for-profits and investors such as ourselves are straining to actually quantify our risks, the qualitative indicators are mounting.

Geopolitical Fragmentation | Europe’s Investment Moment | Candriam Discover how Europe’s drive for strategic autonomy is reshaping global investing. Read Candriam’s latest research and explore our European Autonomy Fund.

We continue to view the labour market as the key determinant for US rates. If employment stabilises, we expect the long end of the curve – particularly maturities beyond ten years – to move higher.

Despite mixed Q3 earnings, European equities closed higher in October, reaching new all-time highs, as macro data showed signs of improvement. In the Eurozone, Q3 GDP surprised to the upside at 0.2% QoQ (vs 0.1% expected and prior) but reflected large discrepancies across countries: Germany and Italy lagged, while France and Spain posted stronger-than-expected growth.

Contrarian voices grew louder in October while Nvidia’s Jensen Huang warned that “China will win the AI race”. Nonetheless, October proved positive for hedge funds, despite brief market volatility tied to US-China trade developments.

Global markets enter November with better visibility than at any point this year – growth stronger than expected, inflation lower than expected and policy still broadly supportive.

The fog is lifting but uncertainty about US data publication persists: We will learn when the delayed economic data will finally be released.

Does it seem as though we, and our investments, are living in uncertain times? With its scheduled cash flows, private debt may provide a predictable and reliable instrument within your overall asset allocation.

Markets extended their winning streak in October, ushering in stocks’ historically strongest quarter — the most wonderful time of the year. Momentum tends to build gradually: a modest October, a livelier November, and a December that often decides how wonderful the season truly is.

Markets extended their winning streak in October, ushering in stocks’ historically strongest quarter — the most wonderful time of the year. Momentum tends to build gradually: a modest October, a livelier November, and a December that often decides how wonderful the season truly is.

The upcoming days will bring a flurry of top-down macro and bottom-up micro events, setting up the scene for the final weeks of 2025.

Global credit markets have entered the final quarter of 2025 in remarkably good shape. Corporate fundamentals remain robust: earnings across sectors have generally surprised to the upside, leverage is low, and balance sheets are strong, in contrast to sovereign balance sheets, where leverage remains elevated.

News that US President Donald Trump is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest to discuss ending the Russian war in Ukraine will be followed closely.

While, according to the World Economic Forum, half of the global GDP is dependent on nature, biodiversity is experiencing an extinction that challenges the resilience of our economies. Deterioration of air, water and soil quality, decline in ecosystem services such as pollination: the physical impacts of this loss of biodiversity are already putting our economies under pressure.

The earnings season for the third quarter of the year will traditionally start with US financial institutions, including JP Morgan Chase

Launched in autumn 2024, the Think Tank "2030, Investir Demain" was created at the initiative of L'Info Durable (ID) and L'Agefi media, with the ambition of uniting financial players around the major challenges of sustainable finance.

European equities rose in September, buoyed by broader global gains supported by the Fed’s rate cut.

The global high yield asset class offers a compelling blend of income and cushion, making it an attractive allocation for investors navigating a complex landscape.