The great instability: Mega trends for the 21st century

A number of mega trends are set to shape our world as it emerges from the pandemic, including disruptive forces that were already in place before Covid. For investors, this is a time to pay close attention: Uncertainty creates opportunities and to capitalise on disruption, you must be able to identify the long-term beneficiaries.

The pandemic has left investors with questions such as: Have central bank and government attitudes to managing the economy changed permanently? What about household and corporate behaviour? With new strains popping up, are we really on top of Covid? Will the health sector have to be on constant alert, permanently adjusting capacity, permanently updating vaccines?

In summary, Covid is still a huge source of uncertainty and investors may need to learn to live with it. For example, bond yields will need to adjust to an uncertain path of monetary policy. We will need to build back in the term premium that compensates investors for taking on risk for longer.

Globally, the era of loose monetary policy, low inflation and low interest rates is not over yet. However, we do expect markets to question this outlook repeatedly, meaning the road ahead could be bumpy.

In our new white paper, we set out our expectations and list the main trends that investors should take into consideration:

  • CHINA
  • HEALTHCARE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • SUSTAINABILITY
  • EQUALITY AND INCLUSIVE GROWTH

Important information

Please note that articles may contain technical language. For this reason, they may not be suitable for readers without professional investment experience. Any views expressed here are those of the author as of the date of publication, are based on available information, and are subject to change without notice. Individual portfolio management teams may hold different views and may take different investment decisions for different clients. This document does not constitute investment advice. The value of investments and the income they generate may go down as well as up and it is possible that investors will not recover their initial outlay. Past performance is no guarantee for future returns. Investing in emerging markets, or specialised or restricted sectors is likely to be subject to a higher-than-average volatility due to a high degree of concentration, greater uncertainty because less information is available, there is less liquidity or due to greater sensitivity to changes in market conditions (social, political and economic conditions). Some emerging markets offer less security than the majority of international developed markets. For this reason, services for portfolio transactions, liquidation and conservation on behalf of funds invested in emerging markets may carry greater risk.

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