The focus this week will be on the US CPI report for December and the release of the Fed’s Beige book ahead of the FOMC end-January.

Investor focus at the start of the year will centre on the US December job report, as recent labour market signals have been increasingly noisy.

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.