Megatrends Affecting the United States: Trends on the horizon you should be thinking about

A decade and a half ago, IT stocks experienced an unprecedented boom which ended in a traumatic crash; now, they are booming again. Ten years ago, emerging market equity valuations rose to equal those of their developed counterparts; now, they languish far behind. Thirty years ago, yields on bonds from most of the world’s best credits stood well into double-digits; now, some of the worst credits pay middling single-digits.

Underlying major market moves of this kind are the driving forces of societal, economic and environmental change, lasting decades or longer. These forces are called megatrends. They typically work silently in the background until a tipping point is reached where an unstoppable force has built up, in technology, geopolitics/society, demographics, or the environment. Then, sometimes with unexpected suddenness, there is a wave of excitement or panic in markets. While these events are hard to time, investors can build exposure to opportunities or protect against the risks of the not-so-distant future, and this report lays out some actionable ideas.

The Megatrends framework looks at the economy through a different prism, giving a longer view that may bring some years of apparent disappointment before providing returns on potentially a much larger scale than provided by a shorter view.

To download the complete whitepaper Megatrends U.S., click the button above.