Forstrong’s Super Trends 2026

Learning to invest in a split-screen world

If you feel a bit dizzy looking at the global economy right now, you aren’t alone. The 2020s were never going to be a quiet decade. Years of suppressed volatility, fiscal restraint, and ultra-low interest rates built pressures that were always going to surface eventually. Still, few expected the midpoint of the decade to look quite like this – an economy that often appears to move in two directions at once.

We call this the “Split-Screen World.” On one side, the numbers look great. Equity markets have advanced, high-income households remain robust, and the first signs of an AI-driven productivity cycle are emerging. On the other side, the cracks are widening. Sovereign debt has swelled, geopolitical tensions remain elevated, and currencies have become tools of economic strategy rather than simple mediums of exchange.

Markets reflect this same duality. The rally in equities and the strength in gold in 2025 are not contradictions – they are signals of a world that is optimistic about opportunity yet highly conscious of risk. Investors are participating in growth while simultaneously protecting against its vulnerabilities.

Economic data across the world tell a similar story. America looks remarkably resilient in some areas and stretched in others. Europe faces long-standing challenges but is quietly rebuilding the foundations of industrial strength. Many emerging-market countries, once dismissed as uninvestible, now show healthier balance sheets and more disciplined policy than much of the developed world. And AI remains both promising and uncertain – celebrated by some as transformative, viewed with caution by others still waiting for tangible outcomes.

Almost every major trend today is K-shaped. Some things are booming; others are stagnating. Private markets are adjusting downward while public markets move higher. Tariff-targeted regions, in a surprise to most investors, became some of the strongest performers in 2025. These are not anomalies. They are features of an economy where divergence, not uniformity, is the norm.

The risk of misinterpretation

This environment has created a new challenge for investors: the risk of misinterpretation. We live in a world where there is no shortage of information, but much of it points in different directions. For every data point that supports a bullish narrative, another screams “imbalance.” In this setting, clarity comes not from reacting to individual numbers, but from understanding the deeper macro forces shaping the global landscape.

And beneath the surface, the shifts are significant. Fiscal power has overtaken monetary policy as the dominant economic tool. The real economy – infrastructure, resources, industrial capacity – is reasserting its importance. Leadership in global markets is broadening beyond the United States. Currency dynamics increasingly reflect national strategy. Traditional safe havens are evolving. And AI, despite its uneven progress, is beginning to feed into real productivity gains.

Viewed together, these developments reveal not confusion but a structural transition – a global order that is adjusting to new economic priorities, new geopolitical realities and new technological capabilities.

This year’s Forstrong’s 7 Super Trends map that transition. They show how investors can navigate a world of divergence by focusing on the forces that endure: global broadening, fiscal leadership, real economy investment, shifting safe havens, currency realignment, and the early stages of a productivity cycle.

At Forstrong, our role is to bring clarity to this environment. We begin with the world, study the global signals that matter most, and build portfolios designed to stay aligned with long-term forces rather than short-term noise. Our hope is that this outlook offers a clear, steady perspective at a time when many signals feel contradictory – a guide for navigating this Split-Screen World with confidence.

In coming weeks, we’ll look at the seven Super Trends mapping the transition of the global order.

Next time: Super Trend 1: The rise of the rest

Tyler Mordy, CFA, is CEO and CIO of Forstrong Global Asset Management Inc., engaged in top-down strategy, investment policy, and securities selection. This article first appeared in Forstrong’s Insights page. Used with permission. You can reach Tyler by phone at Forstrong Global, toll-free 1-888-419-6715, or by email at tmordy@forstrong.com. Follow Tyler on X at @TylerMordy and @ForstrongGlobal.

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