Market leadership has been unusually narrow in 2026, with a small group of companies driving a disproportionate share of global equity returns.

Contrary to popular belief, what an active, fundamentally driven equity investor longs for most is not strong equity markets, but markets with breadth.

Some investment trips are memorable because of the conclusions they generate. Others stand out because of the experiences that shape those conclusions. Our recent two-week research trip across Hong Kong, Taiwan and China was very much both.

The speed of change is extraordinary, with the transition to a multipolar world creating geopolitical fragmentation and the “rise of the nation state” now happening at an accelerating pace. However, the uncertainty of change can also create blind spots if you focus too much on the daily news flow rather than the long-term fundamental trajectories.

Global manufacturing has entered a new regime. Electrification is intensifying as a structural driver of energy demand, industrial investment and geopolitical leverage – reshaping not just energy markets, but industrial power.