According to the 2026 Global Market Outlook of the Chief Investment Office of Standard Chartered Bank Wealth Solutions, the bank's chief information officer expects risk assets to perform well in 2026 as major asset classes continue to inflate. Growth expansion is expected to be accompanied by wider diversification, so CIOs tend to diversify investments in a wider range of asset classes around three key themes: Topic 1 — Stocks: As the market expands, CIOs expect strong profit growth to dominate overvaluations in 2026, with the US and Asia leading the market growth. Managing risk through regional diversification or industry choices is also important. Topic 2 - Earnings: We expect emerging market bonds to be superior to developed market bonds. With an outlook centered on the Federal Reserve alone, emerging market bonds offer attractive credit quality, higher yields, and diversification. Topic 3 — Diversification: The CIO expects gold to continue to rise in 2026, but amid a range of uncertainties, demand for alternative strategies and currencies such as yen and CNH remains high, which is critical to achieving good diversification.

According to the 2026 Global Market Outlook of the Chief Investment Office of Standard Chartered Bank Wealth Solutions, the bank's chief information officer expects risk assets to perform well in 2026 as major asset classes continue to inflate. Growth expansion is expected to be accompanied by wider diversification, so CIOs tend to diversify investments in a wider range of asset classes around three key themes: Topic 1 — Stocks: As the market expands, CIOs expect strong profit growth to dominate overvaluations in 2026, with the US and Asia leading the market growth. Managing risk through regional diversification or industry choices is also important. Topic 2 - Earnings: We expect emerging market bonds to be superior to developed market bonds. With an outlook centered on the Federal Reserve alone, emerging market bonds offer attractive credit quality, higher yields, and diversification. Topic 3 — Diversification: The CIO expects gold to continue to rise in 2026, but amid a range of uncertainties, demand for alternative strategies and currencies such as yen and CNH remains high, which is critical to achieving good diversification.