Contemporary alchemy

In our Q1 2026 deep dive, our research team crunched the data to explore how evolving macro conditions are reflected in private debt returns.

Precious metals such as gold and silver, rare earth minerals, and industrial metals such as copper have been making headlines in recent months. We talked to a team of experts to discover what’s been driving investors’ appetite.

Our private markets research team have crunched the Q4 2025 data. They explain how evolving macro conditions are reflected in private debt returns.

Having crunched the data, our private markets research team looks at how evolving macro conditions are impacting private debt returns.

Vital industries for UK growth like steel or cement are also energy intensive, and their decarbonisation is essential. We convened a roundtable of experts to discuss barriers and solutions to unlocking low-carbon investment opportunities.

Agriculture is integral to reaching net-zero emissions and reversing nature loss. Its transition also presents huge investment opportunities. We held a roundtable of experts to discuss challenges and solutions.

Markets continued to digest the endless news flow on global tariffs, while Nvidia provided further indications of the resilience of company earnings in the first quarter of the year.

US fiscal concerns took centre stage this week, as investors reassessed the long-term sustainability of government debt.  

This week, equity markets have been riding a wave of optimism on the back of positive news flow, with the US stock market, as measured by the S&P 500, remarkably erasing its losses for the year.

Risk assets bounced back this week following increased hopes of a further de-escalation in the trade war and a positive earnings cycle.

Risk assets bounced back this week following increased hopes of a further de-escalation in the trade war and an easing in fears surrounding the independence of the US Federal Reserve.

Following recent market turmoil, which saw the VIX (volatility) index reach one of its highest points this century, we saw a stabilisation in risk assets this week.