2026 Day with the Investment Stars Recap

Thank You for Joining Us at The Rainbow Room

We want to extend our sincere thanks to everyone who joined us for a Day with the Investment Stars, where top investment strategists, portfolio managers, and industry leaders shared insights on the markets. Your participation had helped make this event a dynamic forum for actionable ideas and thoughtful discussion.

Celebrating International Women’s Day: Investment Insights

The opening all women panel with Jenny Harrington, Karen Finerman, Kari Firestone, and Bryn Talkington focused on the surprising resilience of both the U.S. economy and equity markets. Despite recent geopolitical tensions and political uncertainty, the S&P 500 has held near flat at +0.34% with the equal-weighted index up +5.23%.¹ The consensus view was that investors often overestimate the market impact of political developments as markets ultimately respond to economic fundamentals and corporate earnings. With the economy continuing to expand and earnings remaining constructive a year of more modest or flat market returns would represent a healthy consolidation following several years of unusually strong equity gains. Over the past three years, the S&P 500 has delivered returns of approximately 26%, 25%, and 18% in 2023, 2024, and 2025 respectively², well above its long-term historical average annual return of roughly 7.7%.³

Artificial intelligence emerged as one of the most significant long-term themes discussed during the session. The economy is still in the early stages of the AI adoption cycle, with many businesses only beginning to integrate these tools into everyday workflows. While the long-term productivity benefits could be substantial, the transition may also introduce temporary labor market disruption, particularly within white-collar and entry-level knowledge roles. While volatility may persist as markets adjust to evolving policy and technological shifts, the long-term trajectory for both the economy and equity markets remains positive, reinforcing the importance of maintaining a disciplined and forward-looking investment perspective.

The resilience of the U.S. consumer is being driven by strong consumer spending that continues to underpin economic growth, while early productivity gains from AI are beginning to show up in the data. Productivity growth is at 4.9% ⁴, levels not seen in decades, reinforcing the view that technological innovation could meaningfully enhance economic output over time. Panelists also framed the current environment as part of an extended post-pandemic adjustment period, arguing that the shock to labor markets, corporate behavior, and consumer patterns created a multi-year transition period.

The Macro Backdrop: Positioning Portfolios Ahead

The second panel featured economists and strategists Neil Dutta, Dan Greenhaus, Shannon Saccocia, and Barry Knapp and centered on the evolving macro backdrop, including labor market dynamics, inflation, and the implications for markets. Inflation and monetary policy were central to the discussion. While inflation has moderated from its post-pandemic peaks, panelists acknowledged that the path back to the Federal Reserve’s target remains uneven. Some argued that persistent supply shocks from geopolitical conflicts to energy markets may reinforce the Fed’s cautious stance, potentially delaying interest rate cuts. Others noted that cooling labor market conditions and moderating housing inflation could continue to push inflation lower over time.

Interestingly, panelists forecasted continued market broadening beyond the largest technology companies. After accounting for a disproportionate share of market gains in recent years, the largest technology firms have lagged somewhat more recently as investors digest the magnitude of AI-related capital spending and the near-term impact on free cash flow. Tech’s megacaps are expected to invest $700 billion⁵ in 2026 into AI infrastructure, a spending wave that has begun to ripple across the broader economy. GPD growth is expected to remain in the range of 3%-3.5% and if that outlook materializes, companies that have been hesitant to hire or invest may eventually be forced to increase both hiring and capital expenditures in order to keep up with demand. In addition, initiatives aimed at strengthening domestic manufacturing capacity and improving U.S. energy and power infrastructure could provide further support for cyclical sectors.

Investment Strategy Across Public and Private Markets

In this panel, Brian Belski, Jim Lebenthal, Kevin Simpson, and Jason Snipe began by evaluating macro-economic risks, agreeing that while geopolitical tensions and tariffs are manageable, inflation remains a central concern. Rising energy prices, supply-chain dynamics, and labor shortages were cited as potential drivers of persistent inflation that could force the Fed to change course. As a result, they emphasized staying disciplined in monitoring macro data and the fed guidance for the future.

Equity market commentary centered on selective stock picking and thematic allocation rather than broad-market exposure. Panelists stressed the importance of focusing on long-term structural growth trends, valuation discipline, and diversification across resilient sectors. Consumer trends were also discussed, with panelists noting a shift from traditional staples to technology and experience-based consumption, where some consumer-facing businesses benefit from subscription revenue models, pricing power, and evolving demand patterns.

On commodities, the panelists favored industrial metals such as steel, copper, and aggregates, citing demand from data center construction, supply chain reshoring, and the capital expenditure provisions of recent federal budgets. In contrast, precious metals like gold and silver were recognized more as hedges than growth opportunities, and energy exposure was stated to favor integrated companies such as ExxonMobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) rather than speculative drillers. Natural gas was highlighted as an important input for powering AI infrastructure, linking the macro theme directly to technology demand.

What’s Driving Markets: Themes, Sectors, and Asset Allocation

This panel consisted of Bruce Richards, Tom Lee, Adam Parker, and Jason Trennert discussing the current economic backdrop and positioning across financial markets. The panel began by highlighting the strength of the U.S. economy, now roughly $30 trillion and growing around 1.8% annually.⁶ On top of this, several forces could push growth higher, including reshoring of manufacturing, large-scale AI and data center investment, and continued strength among the middle-income consumer. The discussion also focused on how external variables, particularly energy prices, could influence the economy as if oil sustained prices near $100 it can significantly slow growth.

The conversation then shifted toward the rapid growth of private credit markets and potential risks developing beneath the surface. There are increased concerns surrounding software companies financed through leveraged buyouts within private credit markets. While publicly traded software companies typically operate with less than one turn of net debt to EBITDA, many private software companies involved in leveraged buyouts carry five to six turns of leverage, with some deals extending to eight to ten turns.⁷ This high level of leverage becomes more concerning when combined with limited free cash flow generation. However, it is important to note that despite these risks, private credit remains relatively small compared to the broader financial system, meaning stress in this segment is unlikely to create systemic economic risk.

The Tech Tape: Positioning For the Next Move

The final panel featured Bill Baruch, Daniel Ives, Alex Kantrowitz, and Jordi Visser discussing the next phase of the artificial intelligence investment cycle and emphasized the scale of the infrastructure buildout required to support artificial intelligence. Within the United States more data centers are currently under construction than are actively operating, highlighting the massive investment being made across AI infrastructure. The panel also noted the rapid commercialization of AI technologies, with OpenAI is generating approximately $25 billion in annual recurring revenue, while Anthropic has grown from roughly $100 million in revenue in 2023 to nearly $1 billion in 2024, and now operates at approximately $19 billion ARR.⁸

The global AI investment cycle could reach $4 trillion over the next four years, though improvements in AI efficiency could eventually reduce the need for extremely large, centralized models.⁹ Instead, many companies may adopt smaller, task-specific models trained using reinforcement learning, which could moderate long-term demand for massive data centers. Despite these debates, there is pushback against concerns of artificial intelligence disrupting traditional software companies as AI will likely accelerate enterprise software adoption and cybersecurity leaders as we move into an AI driven future.

See You Next Year!

We want to extend one last thanks to all the panelists for sharing their insights with our advisors and clients who joined the discussion. The key takeaway from our speakers is clear: while markets will experience fluctuations, disciplined strategies and informed decision-making remain the most reliable tools for navigating today’s evolving investment landscape.

Stephanie Link’s TV Schedule:

Sources:

1. Bloomberg: As of March 5, 2026 ↩︎
2. Bloomberg: As of March 5, 2026 ↩︎
3. Bloomberg: As of March 12, 2025 ↩︎
4. UBS Analyst Note: As of January 28, 2026 ↩︎
5. CNBC Analyst Note: As of February 6, 2026 ↩︎
6. JP Morgan Analyst Note: As of September 19, 2025 ↩︎
7. Barclays Analyst Note: As of February 12, 2026 ↩︎
8. JP Morgan Analyst Note: As of July 23, 2025 ↩︎
9. Bloomberg Intelligence: As of February 20, 2026 ↩︎

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