Four Big Themes Shaping the Next Decade

Summary

At Morgan Stanley's Thematic Conference, Ellen Zentner describes four structural themes reshaping the global economy: a multipolar world, the future of energy, longevity, and AI and tech diffusion. She explains that Morgan Stanley builds thematic portfolios using stocks exposed to multiple themes to reduce cyclicality and capture long-term shifts. As an example, she notes that the firm went long global defense in January as part of the multipolar world theme and says defense stocks remain up about 50% for the year.

• Morgan Stanley hosted a conference bringing together wealth, investment management, and institutional research around thematic investing.
• Ellen Zentner identifies four key structural themes: multipolar world, future of energy, longevity, and AI and tech diffusion.
• Thematic portfolios favor stocks exposed to multiple themes to reduce cyclical sensitivity.
• The strategy aims to span business cycles and administrations and capture long-term tectonic shifts.
• Morgan Stanley went long global defense in January as part of the multipolar world theme.
• Defense stocks rallied and remain up roughly 50% year-to-date despite pulling back from highs.