Stefan Hofer, Chief Investment Strategist for the Asia-Pacific region at LGT Royal Bank, expects global markets to continue to be volatile in 2025, but with potential for positive growth. Supported by declining interest rates and a boom in technology investments, the outlook for risk assets is optimistic. He predicts that in 2025, the performance of the US stock market, global information technology, healthcare, industrial, and US financial stocks will outperform the broader market. He also points out that the main risks come from the US increasing tariffs, which could have an impact on international trade and potentially lead to inflation heating up in the second half of the year, forcing the Federal Reserve to pause rate cuts or even increase rates again. If Trump implements comprehensive tariff increases, the US CPI could rise by 100 basis points within 12 months. He states that the bank's core investment allocation in January 2025 will focus on the stock markets of the US, Japan, and India. In terms of sectors, he is bullish on healthcare, US financials, innovation and technology themes, industrials, and US small and mid-cap stocks. For fixed income, he recommends flexible allocations to investment-grade bonds and higher-rated high yield bonds. Additionally, the bank continues to see investment opportunities in the private equity market.