As 2026 gears up, the economic outlook in Australia, the US and around the globe is far from clear.

There is talk of K-shaped economies, interest rates rising in some economies and falling in others, and the ever-present geopolitical challenges.

In this podcast, Amy Xie Patrick, head of income strategies at Pendal, explains why Liberation Day tariffs didn't play out as predicted, what a K-shaped economy is and how investors should be thinking about it.

“Markets did have a very severe downturn… but why this didn't lead to the fears of a continued bear market… is twofold… a lot of Chinese producers had to eat the cost of tariffs… and the US economy has again surprised us with how resilient it's been all through 2025," says Amy.

“I just wouldn’t be too fearful here at this stage buying into the K shaped economy narrative and waiting for that other shoe to drop, because if you're too defensive… you’re sacrificing all this income, which fixed income is really about.”

Want more insight on how to navigate market uncertainty? Tune in now. 

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Find out more about Pendal's fixed income strategies at pendal/fixedinterest

Pendal is a global asset manager. Find out more at pendalgroup.com

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