This week, we broaden our preview and tease some other factors investors will want to consider when thinking about investing in 2026.

A strong beat rate and another quarter of double-digit earnings growth proved corporate America’s resilience, bolstered by mega cap technology’s artificial intelligence (AI) investment. Here we recap third quarter earnings season, when more stayed the same than changed. Hat tip to profit margins.

As 2025 nears its final 100 calendar days, market focus is already beginning to turn forward and attempt to reconcile what market drivers could remain in place, and what could change in the first year of the new half-decade. While not an exhaustive list, here’s some of our early keys to 2026.

AI-related business investment is rapidly becoming a cornerstone of U.S. economic growth, marking a structural shift in how expansion is financed and sustained. In the first half of 2025, investment in information-processing equipment and software — largely driven by AI infrastructure — is a small yet mighty slice of the economy, yet contributed a majority to economic growth during that period.

The S&P 500 is over halfway through Q3 earnings season, and results have been impressive. Of the 318 companies that have reported results, 83% have surpassed earnings per share (EPS) estimates, notably above the 10-year average beat rate of 75%, according to FactSet.

With the stock market in record-high territory and up about 35% off the April lows, market participants clearly haven’t been too scared lately. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of things to worry about. Just because risks haven’t affected markets much lately — subprime auto loan bankruptcies notwithstanding — doesn’t mean they won’t in the future. In that “spirit,” as Halloween approaches, we discuss what scares us about the economy and financial markets.