JPMorgan: AI investments drive the market despite economic challenges

AI investments have become the main anchor of the stock market at a time when the economy has accumulated numerous risks. Despite rising oil prices, increasing interest rates, and slowing business activity, investments in artificial intelligence continue to fuel revenue growth and attract capital.

Why investors remain committed to AI

Stephanie Aliaga, lead strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, emphasizes that the AI sector remains a dominant force in the stock market. Amid political uncertainty and macroeconomic slowdown, investors seek solid ground—and find it in companies that integrate artificial intelligence into their business processes. Companies with AI stakes show sustained revenue growth. This is explained not simply by technological trend-chasing, but by real improvements in operational efficiency, cost reduction, and opening of new markets. When traditional sectors of the economy lose momentum, AI remains a source of profitability and innovation.

What headwinds are blowing

The macroeconomic backdrop remains tense. The market simultaneously grapples with several challenges:

• Rising oil and energy prices creating inflationary pressure
• Sustained high interest rates making borrowing more expensive for companies
• Slowing economic growth in developed countries
• Cyclical contraction of business confidence
• Geopolitical uncertainty

Normally, these factors would weigh on tech stocks above all. However, investors view AI as a strategic, not cyclical, bet—a technology capable of rewriting the rules of competition for the entire next cycle. Thus, even amid macro turbulence, AI companies attract capital that would traditionally flow to "defensive" assets.

2026: the year of agentic AI

Aliaga emphasizes that 2026 may go down in history as the year when agentic AI emerged from laboratories into the real economy. This refers to autonomous agents—systems that not only process information but independently make decisions and execute tasks in real time. This is a qualitative leap compared to the previous stage of development. If in 2023–2025 AI served as a tool to accelerate specialist work (text generation, data analysis, coding), then in 2026, agentic AI may become a new type of economic participant—an agent that operates with minimal human oversight. Companies that first mass-deploy agentic AI will gain significant competitive advantage.

What this means

The conclusion is straightforward: even amid macroeconomic turbulence and elevated risk, the investment market remains convinced of AI's transformational role. 2026 promises to be not just another year of hype around new technology, but a turning point in the structure of the global economy. Companies that postpone investments in agentic AI risk finding themselves in an uncompetitive position in the middle of the decade.