Capital Markets Assumptions and Themes – Outlook for 2026

In this episode from BMO's Beyond the Portfolio podcast, host Mike Miranda, President, BMO Family Office and Head of Investments, BMO Private Wealth, sits down with Dan Phillips, Chief Investment Officer for BMO U.S. Wealth Management, and Carol Schleif, Chief Market Strategist at BMO Private Wealth, to examine capital markets in 2026, as part of the ongoing Outlook Series. So far in this series, we've covered: equities — how earnings, innovation, and valuations are shaping the stock market; fixed income — how rates, inflation, and credit are redefining portfolio construction; and private markets — how capital formation, exits, and liquidity are evolving. Today, we're stepping back from the individual asset classes and focusing on the big structural forces, the deep currents underneath markets that don't change in months or quarters, but over years and decades. These are the forces that drive where capital flows, where growth comes from, and where risk hides.