Bi-Weekly Geopolitical Report – Eight Megatrends Every Investor Should Know (September 23, 2024)
by Patrick Fearon-Hernandez, CFA | PDF
One of the defining characteristics of our investment strategy work here at Confluence is that we pay close attention to big, global trends in geopolitics, economics and trade, demographics, technology, and even social and political developments. We then try to determine how to incorporate those trends into our strategies, either by managing the risks they impose or identifying and investing in the associated opportunities. We think this discipline can be fruitful because big, global trends are often long lasting and relatively predictable. Shorter-term, idiosyncratic forces can still make asset prices volatile from time to time, but the impact of “megatrends” often comes back to the fore relatively quickly.
Our regular readers know that we pay especially close attention to geopolitical trends. However, in this report, we want to provide a broader survey of several megatrends that are likely to remain in place for at least the next decade and be especially salient to investors. This list isn’t necessarily comprehensive; another writer could easily come up with an alternative set. All the same, we think it will be interesting for investors to consider the wide range of global trends that could affect their investments.