Four Standout Investment Themes for 2025

Jan 22, 2025

Deglobalization, the continued evolution of AI, longevity and the future of energy could provide investment opportunities in the years ahead.

Author
Michael Zezas

Key Takeaways

  • Morgan Stanley’s four major investment themes for 2025 offer investors a roadmap for investing for long-term growth.
  • Three of Morgan Stanley’s megatrends—artificial intelligence, longevity and the future of energy—carry over from last year.
  • The rewiring of the global economy—returns to our list after a hiatus in 2024, as global policymakers signal a shift in priorities.

Short-term trends can offer investors valuable insights into immediate market dynamics. But it’s the long-term trends that truly shape the investment landscape. That’s why each year, Morgan Stanley Research presents a list of key megatrends that we believe will provide a foundation for sustainable growth and resilience in an ever-changing world.

 

2025 is likely to see a series of market-impacting catalysts, from slowing rate cuts and sticky inflation, to geopolitical complexities stemming from potential tariffs and tax policy changes. That’s why it’s important to tune into the deeper trends reshaping and driving opportunity well beyond short-term cycles.

 

Three of Morgan Stanley’s megatrends—artificial intelligence, longevity, and the future of energy—carry over from last year. A fourth—the rewiring of the global economy—returns to our list after a hiatus in 2024, as global policymakers signal a shift in priorities. While none of these megatrends is new, each has evolved in terms of how it applies to investment strategies.

 

1. Global Commerce Gets Rewired for a Multipolar World

For decades, integrated global markets created wealth and buoyed economies. But rising geopolitical tensions, supply chain vulnerabilities and economic dependencies are shifting priorities. Policymakers in the U.S. and around the world are taking a new approach to global commerce—focusing on national and economic security via less open trade and more local control over supply chains.

 

As companies and countries adapt to changing dynamics, we will see some sectors and regions incurring fresh costs to invest in new supply chain and end-market strategies, while others benefit from those investments.

 

2. Longevity Will Redefine Healthcare and Demographics

Longevity remains a significant theme, but with more emphasis on tracking its effects and understanding how interventions and drugs, such as obesity medications, are helping people live longer. Obesity drugs have proved to be a disruptor on a scale matched by few other pharmaceutical innovations. These treatments have effects far beyond weight management, including a 73% reduction in the risk of developing diabetes and a 20% drop in the risk of cardiovascular deaths.

 

Other innovations in the medical and pharmaceutical landscape, such as “smart chemo” (a revolution in cancer treatment targeting that promises safer treatments and significant market growth), AI-aided drug discovery and brain-computer interfaces continue to improve and expand lives.

 

As humans live longer, there is also a heightened focus on “healthspan”—the number of years people live free from disease. For example, nutrition plays a key role in promoting healthier, longer lives, creating opportunities for companies to develop affordable diets tailored to the health needs of aging. populations.

 

Indeed, the ripple effects of an aging population reach far beyond the medical and pharmaceutical sectors with implications for housing, financial planning and consumer goods.

 

3. Shifting Priorities in Energy Accelerate Innovation

It’s increasingly apparent that companies and governments will not meet their ambitious 2030 climate goals due to a number of factors, including policy gaps and supply chain disruptions. As such, in 2025 Morgan Stanley is focusing on the future of energy, looking beyond decarbonization and considering how population growth, weather patterns and consumer behavior all tie into the supply, demand and delivery of energy across geographies.

 

Power demand from generative AI alone is estimated to increase at an annual average of 70% through 2027, primarily due to the expansion of data centers. In response, regulated utilities and other power providers are likely to accelerate the development of both nuclear and renewable energy solutions, as well as advanced storage systems, to meet this escalating demand.

 

4. AI Moves from Foundations to Early Game-Changing Applications

To say artificial intelligence has been a transformative force in industries, economies and consumers’ daily lives would be an understatement. In just two years, since the launch of ChatGPT, we’ve seen generative AI transform creative industries, education and retail. AI also carries the potential, via humanoid robots, to transform manufacturing and healthcare, and has wide-reaching implications for the workforce and the broader economy.

 

Among other developments, 2025 is likely to see profound growth in agentic AI. In this next phase of AI development, software programs gain "agency” by taking action and adapting without explicit human instruction, which could have profound implications for autonomous vehicles, healthcare assistants and cybersecurity.