Four Key Investment Themes for 2026

This was the top-performing thematic category in 2025. The three top-performing thematic categories in 2025 fell within the Multipolar World theme, demonstrating how geopolitical and industrial shifts are directly influencing markets. Governments continue adopting policies that go against pre-COVID-10 globalization trends, while companies and policymakers are prioritizing control of supply chains, access to energy, materials, defense capabilities and technology. 

“Policymakers are keen to promote their visions of national and economic security through less open commerce and more local control of supply chains and key technologies,” Byrd says. “Multinationals and sovereigns will adapt to this reality in an accelerating pace in 2026, with some facing tougher choices than others.” 

Stock Categories Within This Theme: Critical minerals, defense spending and tech localization.

AI capabilities should continue to expand at a non-linear pace, potentially faster than the ability of businesses, consumers and governments to adopt them. Differing adoption curves may become a defining driver of stock performance in 2026.

“This theme has clearly matured,” Byrd says. “A critical evolution is our view that compute demand is likely to exceed supply, even as software and hardware become more efficient.”

Stock Categories Within This Theme: AI enablers, AI adopters, the Humanoid 100 and AI infrastructure.

AI infrastructure—particularly data centers— is driving a rapid surge in global energy demand. In the U.S. alone, energy consumption could rise 10% per year over the next decade. Alternative sources of energy and new technologies are being developed to provide low-cost power supply, including carbon capture, energy storage and nuclear power. At the same time, there’s an increased focus on how higher electricity bills could affect consumers in many parts of the world, potentially having an impact on how they vote.

“Compared with 2025, this theme has expanded from a supply conversation into a political one,” Byrd says. “Rising energy costs are becoming increasingly visible to consumers, elevating the `politics of energy’.”

Stock Categories Within This Theme: Powering AI, the globalization of natural gas, the nuclear renaissance, Europe's "low decarb diet," power grid growth & evolution, clean energy & storage, energy security and carbon as a commodity.

An evolution of 2025’s Longevity theme, Societal Shifts captures the demographic, technological and social changes reshaping economies worldwide. These include the influence of AI on the labor market, aging populations, evolving consumer tastes and the growing divide represented by the “Kshaped economy,” in which higherincome groups advance while lowerincome groups fall behind.

“These shifts increasingly influence government policy, corporate strategy and economic growth—while their impact spans far more industries than investors often expect,” Byrd says. 

Stock Categories Within This Theme: Diabesity ecosystem, AI & healthcare, preparing for an aging population, Japan’s longevity, smart chemo, the future of food & beverages and addressing AI-driven employment impacts.