According to experts, 2026 will be a year for expanding trends that ruled in 2025, from the economy to integrating AI.
On December 9, the UW Now Live hosted experts across different fields, who offered their predictions for 2026. Mike Knetter, an economist and former CEO of the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA), moderated the discussion, which covered the economy, financial markets, long-term investment strategies, sports, and AI in the coming year.
Joining the conversation were Brad Tank MBA’82, managing director and senior adviser at Neuberger Berman; Michael Stohler, chief investment officer for the Wisconsin Investment Management Company (WISIMCO), WFAA’s investment arm; and Laura Albert, a UW engineering professor and analyst. There was even an appearance from a special guest, ChatGPT.
Tank began the conversation discussing economic growth, market investments, and stocks. According to Tank, 2025 was a good year for financial markets and the economy.
“Certainly 2025 has brought in a lot of change, a bit of volatility, and some excitement, both good and bad, from the perspective of financial markets,” Tank said. “There are pockets of weakness, but by and large, it’s been a good year of outcomes in the markets.”
Tank said trade policies were a major economic factor in the U.S., with growth shifting as policies changed from quarter to quarter. For 2026, Tank said economic growth looks more promising. He’s predicting trade policies will settle in 2026 and economic growth will rise to 2–2.5 percent.
“While we’ve had a lot of policy activity from the current administration,” he said, “Typically we would expect this next year, the second year of a new administration, [to bring] reduced policy volatility and more policy certainty.”
The cost of tariffs, Tank noted, were largely not passed to consumers in 2025, and he predicts the impact of tariffs on prices should lessen in 2026, with inflation on rent and housing flattening as well.
As for interest rates, Tank said 2026 will generally have a positive rate trajectory, as short rates go down and intermediate and long rates drop slightly.
The discussion turned to investments as Stohler described long-term strategies for identifying and investing in secular trends, such as investing in private market companies, including SpaceX and Stripe, as well as emerging technologies in AI and biotech. He predicts that AI will also contribute to improving upcoming earnings growth margins.
Stohler predicts that the national debt will rise to $38 trillion in 2026, and that the impact of AI is likely to be accelerated in the coming year. He also predicts that interest rates will fall, with the upcoming midterm elections shaping public equity market performance.
Predictions turned to sports as Albert weighed in on what to expect from the UW football team in 2026. Her prediction? Things will look up for the Badgers next year.
“I expect that college football will have a lot of changes in the coming year,” Albert said. As college football seasons lengthen, player health and career longevity may shape the college season. Some possible changes Albert pointed to were bowl games, which she said continue to be less important for teams, and to conference championship games, which may not fit the needs of the NCAA’s 12-team playoffs.
Knetter tapped ChatGPT to provide an AI generated outlook for artificial intelligence in 2026. ChatGPT predicts an increase in AI customer-relationship-management software. In the workplace, ChatGPT said customer operations, sales, software, IT, finance, and HR will continue to integrate business intelligence generated by AI into everyday workflows. ChatGPT also predicts that more advanced AI will be able to integrate text, visuals, audio, and data with better reasoning and tool use capabilities in 2026.
“The economy always gravitates toward full employment,” Knetter noted. “Overall, on the productivity front, we will certainly see that generative AI tools will lead to productivity growth in firms and also the economy as a whole.”
The guests then answered listener questions about inflation, changes to trade in 2026, and investing in Bitcoin.
