Insights on US equities

ClearBridge Investments: The AI revolution's biggest winners may not be the mega-cap developers everyone's watching. Smaller-cap specialists building the physical infrastructure behind AI could offer investors a different play—one that doesn't require betting on a single technology or architecture.

With a solid fundamental backdrop, a broadening equity market, and the potential in AI, we believe this is an exciting time to be picking stocks and investing in businesses.

Royce Investment Partners: Co-CIO Francis Gannon looks at how low interest rates, tax policy, reshoring, technology adoption, and deregulation can fuel US small-cap earnings growth.

Royce Investment Partners: Chris Clark and Francis Gannon discuss whether relatively attractive valuations, strong earnings, and heightened volatility could put US small-caps back on top in 2026?

Franklin Equity Group suggests markets seem to be transitioning from a narrow, liquidity-driven regime to one shaped by fundamentals, innovation, and active management.

Franklin Equity Group’s Grant Bowers suggests the US economy may be approaching a Goldilocks equilibrium in 2026, supported by stable growth, anchored inflation and policy tailwinds.

ClearBridge Investments: As AI challenges digital business models, companies with physical assets, predictable cash flows, dividends and durable moats stand out as better positioned in a volatile, high‑valuation market.

US equities underperformed global markets in the first six months of 2025, but continue to trade at a premium to foreign markets. ClearBridge Investments outlines the case for global diversification.

ClearBridge Investments believes macro and technological shifts are driving a wider dispersion of outcomes, highlighting the need for active management.

ClearBridge Investments believes dividend growers possess three attributes for an environment marked by inflation and policy risk: potential for downside protection, current income and growth.

ClearBridge Investments: Since the pandemic, the volatility of returns between growth and value has surged, which we believe is emblematic of a shift toward a new, value-led market regime.

Putnam Investments believes the success of their investment strategy is not as simple as finding the highest dividend yields.