Who was naughty and nice in the markets? For the second year, Fidelis Capital's Head of Fixed Income Chris Gunster, CFA, made his lists—and checked them twice.
Review 2025 from the North Pole with “Gunster Claus” and his three carefully compiled lists. Use the timestamps below for easy navigation and scroll a little bit more for Chris’s notes about 2026.
0:33 - How Fidelis Capital Forecasts the Year Ahead
1:33 - The Nice List
4:32 - The Nice, But... List
6:07 - The Naughty List
7:55 - What to Watch in Early 2026
From the Desk of Gunster Claus
As I discuss more in the video, there are a handful of themes we are watching to start 2026:- Volatility, volatility, volatility
- Fed cuts and FOMC composition (this and the latter are detailed in my latest Forbes.com article, linked here)
- Expecting falling mortgage rates in a lower rate environment (I have another Forbes.com article on this, linked here)
- Inflation and dollar weakness
The key for 2026 continues to be FLEXIBILITY. We are expecting volatility, and volatility creates opportunity. However, flexibility is a requirement if you want to capitalize on the opportunity.
Clients in our award-recognized Tax-Aware Fixed Income (TAFI) and other fixed-income strategies have this flexibility built in and will continue to capitalize on market changes.
