As a new year comes over the horizon, the European group throws out bold claims about what might happen next year. In the past, some of these guesses turned out to be true.

In all the predictions that wealth managers make, perhaps the most distinctive are the self-styled “outrageous” predictions of Denmark-headquartered Saxo Bank. And, as the group likes to point out, some of its predictions aren’t as eccentric as might be thought. This year, it has pointed to those areas where it called matters correctly in recent years. 

After all the volatility of recent years, being “outrageous” in economics might appear more difficult. 

While this way of looking to the future might seem provocative and even a bit of fun – yes, we are allowed to have fun – there is a serious point in that they can help frame thinking and make a topic come to life. 

Here are the predictions for 2026

Quantum leap Q-Day arrives early, crashing crypto and destabilising world finance
In tech, take cryptography and imagine what happens if Q-Day suddenly arrives in 2026, the day that quantum machines can crack yesterday’s digital locks effortlessly. Crypto collapses; gold screams to five figures; every bank and government scrambles to rebuild trust in a post-quantum security stack.

Taylor Swift-Kelce wedding spikes global growth
In 2026, markets discover that sudden culture shifts can move macro. A single wedding – Swift and Kelce – tips a generation out of doomscrolling and into backyards, marriages, and baby carriages. Fertility and household formation booms. Economists coin a new phrase with a smile: the Swiftie Put.

Despite concerns, US 2026 mid-term elections proceed smoothly
In politics, the aggravated partisanship of recent years is suddenly upended after the ugly partisan shenanigans in the US mid-term elections shock the silent majority of independents into demanding reform and a strengthening of democratic institutions. Trump stays Trump, but America begins to move on.

Obesity drugs for everyone – even for pets
In medicine, GLP-1 obesity drugs in pill form transform human and even pet health. Waistlines shrink, lifespans stretch, and all food companies race to reinvent themselves for a lighter world.

SpaceX announces an IPO, supercharging extraterrestrial markets
Above the atmosphere, capital markets discover their next frontier. A SpaceX IPO valuation clears a trillion dollars and turns “space economy” from slogan to spreadsheet. Orbital manufacturing and lunar projects migrate from science fiction to investment committee.

A Fortune 500 company names an AI model as CEO
Back on Earth, an AI model becomes a Fortune 500 CEO, executing without ego and forcing boards to consider the unthinkable: a human-machine partnership at the top.

Dollar dominance challenged by Beijing’s golden yuan
Geopolitics, never far from the tape in recent years, tests the monetary order as Beijing rolls out a gold-linked offshore yuan for redenomination of its trade. The dollar remains a king, but not the king.

Dumb AI triggers trillion-dollar clean-up
While carefully constructed and prompted AI may help run a company, beneath the buzzwords, a humbling reckoning unfolds: dumb AI, or poorly governed agents and “agentic” automations, misfire en masse, generating a trillion-dollar cleanup and a new profession of “AI janitors” to disinfect the codebase of modern life.

The track record
Saxo said it checked its archives to find the Outrageous Predictions (OPs) that were much closer to the truth than thought:

-- Late bloomer: Gold rockets to $3,000 as central banks fail on inflation mandate (OPs for 2022); 
-- Trump 2.0 blows up the US dollar (OPs for 2025); 
-- Nvidia balloons to twice the value of Apple (OPs for 2025);
-- [Honourable mention] A country agrees to ban all meat production by 2030 (OPs for 2023);
-- The plan to end fossil fuels gets a rain check (OPs for 2022);
-- Volatility spikes after flash crash in stock markets (OPs for 2018);
-- Bitcoin triples in value, from the current $700 level to $2,100 (OPs for 2017);
-- UK seen leaning towards 2017 exit from the EU (Brexit) on UKIP election landslide (OPs for 2015); and 
-- Gold corrects to $1,200 per ounce (OPs for 2013).