Powerful cyclical, secular and structural changes are reshaping the outlook for asset classes and opportunities abound for those able to reorientate investment portfolios accordingly. This panel debated the outlook for global equities and liquid alternatives.

Artificial Intelligence is disrupting industries and creating winners, losers, and perceived losers. Long-term value is created by owning resilient businesses rather than chasing momentum.

The first phase of the AI super cycle was driven by a narrow group of US companies, but the world’s reliance and dependence on US technology and defence has shifted. A new chapter of technological power has begun beyond US borders.

Liquid alternatives promise two things - diversification from equities and compelling standalone returns. Yet most fall short. Investors need liquid alternatives to be bold and flexible.

We are living in an age of exponential change and radical uncertainty. We must prepare ourselves (and our portfolios) for the seismic societal and economic shocks that are hurtling our way – we're witnessing the mother of all disruptions.

Markets are not capitulating. They are re-calibrating. Yet beneath that surface stability, assumptions are being quietly rewritten. We are operating in a whole new world (again)!. Not because growth has collapsed. But because capital is being redeployed under a different set of structural constraints.

Markets are not breaking. They are repricing assumptions. What stands out most right now is not recession panic, nor speculative euphoria - but transition. The more useful question is not “Are we heading into a downturn?” It is: “What regime are we moving toward - and which portfolio assumptions quietly depend on the old one?”

What defines the current environment is not fear, but discrimination. Markets are no longer rewarding participation by default. That shift from belief to verification may be the most important signal of all.

Together, these two articles shed light on important micro and macro challenges facing the growth of ethical responsibility in investment and wealth management.

This paper looks at the impact of repetition on our perceptions of unethicality and truth. It finds that the more times we hear about a wrongdoing, the more we may believe it - but the less we may care.

Rather than treating ethical decision-making as a cognitive issue, investment professionals should develop "ethics muscle memory", increasing the chances of successfully navigating moral predicaments in the moment.

Individual investors have long responded to the public communications of well-placed, popular investment experts. This paper offers a new understanding of how the rise of "finfluencers" is reshaping the information landscape.

Whether your clients are looking for enhanced income, greater capital appreciation, or balance & diversification, alternatives may allow you to build portfolios to better pursue these outcomes together.

Backed by decades of outperformance, private market assets can serve as powerful tools to diversify return streams, providing ballast to portfolios.

Private credit may represent a simple and direct way to offer clients exposure to private markets and help them pursue investment goals, whether they are savers, spenders or growers.

Less than 5% of individual portfolios are allocated to alternative investments. Yet, private markets have outperformed their public counterparts over the long term.

By understanding the fundamentals of private capital, investors can make more informed investments, potentially unlocking paths to greater diversification, attractive returns, increased income, and lower volatility.

Private market assets can complement traditional equity and fixed income allocations, helping investors participate in the upside of favourable equity markets while mitigating drawdowns in difficult ones.

Two trends have propelled direct lending’s market’s remarkable growth over the past decade and these tailwinds are expected to continue.

A complex array of issues is changing the outlook for economies and investment markets. It is time to make a move to better understand these issues so we can better manage risk and uncertainty, and design portfolios capable of improving the financial well-being of individuals.