Live Markets: To survive a fractured world, ditch the old rulebook
26/02/2026 10:50
Adds blog post STOXX 600 unchanged Heavy earnings day Nvidia tops estimates US-Iran resume nuclear talks Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com TO SURVIVE A FRACTURED WORLD, DITCH THE OLD RULEBOOK Geopolitics has morphed from an episodic market irritant into a permanent factor shaping the global investment landscape, and investors need to pick winners actively instead of betting on broad-based growth, according to fund managers. Policymakers have started to prioritise national security over economic efficiency, marking a decisive break from decades of globalisation-led thinking, said Wellington Management's geopolitical Strategist Thomas Mucha. "We're at the beginning stages of a new investment regime," he said, pointing to semiconductor, robotics, AI, space technology, critical minerals and defence industries as potential beneficiaries of government support as countries around the world attempt to turn more self-reliant. Long-standing assumptions that formed the bedrock of global markets, such as central bank independence, may also no longer hold. "I don't think you can keep central banks fully independent of political influences. The central bank and the government are always going to be loosely tied," said David Kang, CEO of investment firm Ducenta Squared Asset Management. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly called on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, while his administration opened a criminal investigation into the central bank's Chair Jerome Powell. Additionally, a report earlier this week said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi expressed reservations about additional interest rate hikes during her meeting with Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda. Mucha said investors may need to rethink the passive playbook that defined the past decade, with active management becoming more important as performance gaps widen across countries, sectors and even within industries. (Niket Nishant) ***** EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS: UTILITIES AND INDUSTRIALS KEEP STOXX HIGH CLICK HERE BEFORE THE BELL: EUROPEAN FUTURES STEADY, LOTS OF EARNINGS CLICK HERE NVIDIA DELIVERS, BUT GOOD NO LONGER CUTS IT CLICK HERE