Insights on US equities

Miles Lewis, Chip Skinner, Kavitha Venkatraman, Steven McBoyle and Francis Gannon talk about what they see in store for US small-cap stocks in the coming year.

The Bank of Japan appears to be an outlier, anticipating two interest rate hikes in 2026, while North American and European Central Banks are likely pausing and calling for steady as she goes. Get an overview of central bank actions and the likely trajectory in the months ahead from Franklin Templeton Fixed Income.

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 expects a broadening of market participation that should benefit more diversified portfolios in 2026.

ClearBridge Investments: The ClearBridge Recession Risk Dashboard remains firmly in green expansionary territory; despite AI labor fears, supportive fiscal and monetary policy should power the US economy and corporate earnings in 2026.

AI’s impact on the US small-cap market and why earnings strength can sustain recent US small-cap leadership are some of the topics being discussed in this new roundtable from Royce Investment Partners.

Royce Investment Partners: Francis Gannon discusses a positive period for US equities in the third quarter of 2025.

Royce Investment Partners: There seems to be a notable historical trend of active small-cap managers outperforming the Russell 2000 Index in periods when value stocks lead, while trailing the small-cap index when growth stocks lead.

Royce Investment Partners: Co-CIO Francis Gannon looks at why US small-cap’s stronger relative performance off the market’s April lows could be signaling a long-awaited leadership shift.

Royce Investment Partners makes a bullish case for US small-cap stocks, outlining why periods of volatility can unlock opportunity.

Current volatility and optimism are some of the topics being discussed in this new roundtable from Royce Investment Partners.

Miles Lewis, Chip Skinner, Kavitha Venkatraman, Steven McBoyle and Francis Gannon talk about what they see in store for US small-cap stocks in the coming year.

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.

The US economy’s resilience and strong financial markets have sustained leadership through varied political and economic shifts, positioning American companies as key drivers of global growth. Franklin Equity Group’s Grant Bowers makes the case that US equity exposure is essential for a well-diversified portfolio.

While market volatility and uncertainties are possible in the months ahead, we also see encouraging trends for equities.

Collapsing the boundaries between organic and artificial, illusion and reality, and human and machine is being discussed in the latest Innovation Insights Quarterly from Franklin Equity Group.

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.

ClearBridge Investments: Sam Peters suggests valuation excesses remain hidden, but are quickly growing too large to ignore, creating three distinct 2025 possibilities: Goldilocks, cyclical inflation and recession.