In sum, economies will still expand in 2026, if at a modest pace. There is no global recession on the agenda – unless the US AI stock market bubble bursts and causes a ricochet in financial markets across the world. However, the underlying issues of: poverty and rising global inequality; global warming and climate change; and rising trade barriers and geopolitical conflicts; will remain. But it cannot be ruled out that the relatively high profitability of US mega media companies will continue to drive investment and raise productivity to deliver a new boom through the rest of this decade.