TAMPA, Fla. - eTradeWire -- Florida Trust Wealth Management began the new year with its annual 2026 Economic Outlook events, global economic overviews that also looked at artificial intelligence and growth opportunities for the year ahead.

The Q&A style program, held Jan. 21 at Palma Ceia Golf & Country Club in Tampa and Jan. 22 at The Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, featured insights from four of the wealth management company's industry experts:

·      Ian N. Breusch, CFA, Chief Operating Officer

• Kristian R. Jhamb, MBA, CFA, Chief Investment Officer
• Logan S. Webb, CFA, CFP®, Executive Vice President, Senior Portfolio Manager
• Jodi Schwartzel, Vice President, Senior Portfolio Manager

Breusch began with opening remarks followed by a brief review of the 2025 economy and expectations for 2026.

During the panel discussion Breusch began by mentioning that the consumer is strong, the U.S. economy is solid; however, simultaneously unemployment is ticking up, and labor markets are beginning to show signs of deterioration. He asked Webb how do we reconcile those competing forces?

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Webb responded, "There are two parallel economies, one booming, while the other somewhat in shambles. The good news is the strength of the upper end of the consumer continues to drive markets higher." He added, "The bad news is, consumers who don't own appreciating assets, those who are paycheck to paycheck, unfortunately cannot keep up with inflation. Because of these two parallel economies, we believe investors need to be selective, as not all companies will be impacted equally."

Breusch later led the conversation to artificial intelligence, or AI. This has been a dominant investment theme since October 2022 with the launch of ChatGPT.

Jhamb led the AI conversation by stating, "It's an incredibly complex ecosystem. A lot of interconnections and cross-financing are taking place, impacting the ability to assess true AI demand." He mentioned that the leading players in AI are Nvidia, Amazon, Broadcom, Meta, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, and of course, OpenAI.

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Webb mentioned that the labor market will be an important factor in 2026 and AI could play a role. Baby Boomers, from which more than 10,000 per day are turning 65, are retiring each year in the U.S. and we simply do not have enough workers coming up to replace them.

Schwartzel concluded the team's remarks by stressing that rebalancing, investment selection, and diversification will be important to focus on in 2026.  Overall, the panel was broadly optimistic on the prospects of the market run continuing, underpinned by strong macro- and company-level fundamentals.

For more information about Florida Trust Wealth Management and its services, visit FloridaTrust.com (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/club-undergoes-15-million-member-enhancements-boardroom-magazine-sujqc).