Emerging market equities have staged a powerful comeback, led by AI-related companies in Korea and Taiwan. However, the bigger long-term EM opportunity favors a systematic, broad-universe approach.
While estimates of AI spending across regions are hard to find, every available measure shows the scale of investment in Europe is an order of magnitude smaller than in the US and China.
The investment environment in 2026 continues to be shaped by geopolitical uncertainty, evolving inflation dynamics and the accelerating impact of artificial intelligence (AI). Renewed tensions in the Middle East have reintroduced inflation risks through higher energy prices, while AI-related spending is creating upward pressure on inflation in some sectors. As a result, central banks are expected to maintain restrictive policy settings for longer than previously anticipated.