Moving into H2 2026 – resilience over perfection

MARKETS like clean stories. Unfortunately, the world keeps offering messy realities.

As we enter the second half of 2026, corporate earnings have shown real resilience, with consensus earnings growth revised from around 12 per cent to closer to 29 per cent. This reflects companies walking into a challenging macro environment yet leaving with earnings still delivering durable growth.

Companies are proving more adaptable than investors initially feared. Margins have held up. Technology earnings remain powerful. Artificial intelligence spending has not collapsed under its own hype. Consumers have slowed in places but are not broken. Supply chains remain imperfect but no longer look as fragile as they did during the pandemic years.