Market Volatility

Managing a strategic rivalry: Thoughts on the summit between US President Trump and Chinese President Xi from Christy Tan.

In this episode of Talking Markets, Franklin Templeton Institute's Chris Galipeau and Royce's Frank Gannon examine the current opportunity in small cap equities. Against a resilient US economic backdrop, they highlight the recent outperformance of small cap equities driven by accelerating earnings growth, attractive valuations, and secular tailwinds such as reshoring, deregulation, and AI adoption. They also discuss the value of including this “forgotten asset class” in investor portfolios now.

Western Asset: Asia-Pacific bond markets are increasingly recognized as a resilient and distinct asset class, offering investors the potential for attractive yields, stability and diversification benefits in today's shifting global environment.

A major supply disruption has taken roughly 13 million barrels per day offline, jolting oil, gas and petrochemical markets. Prices have moved, but the real test is whether tightening physical inventories and refining bottlenecks expose deeper strain that markets aren’t yet fully pricing.

Royce Investment Partners: Co-CIO Francis Gannon looks at how recent performance may be subtly announcing a turning point in market leadership.

In this month’s Allocation Views, the Middle East conflict and its impact on the global economy in 2026 continue to be the chief concern for asset allocation, as inflationary pressures challenge central bank policy.