WSJ's Take On the Week WSJ’s Take On the Year: Market Trends to Watch in 2026
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Jan 4, 2026 
Aaron Back, an Editor at WSJ's Heard on the Street known for his market insights, and David Wainer, a columnist who focuses on the food, health care, and consumer sectors, discuss the volatile landscape of 2025 and predictions for 2026. They explore the AI-driven surge in hard-drive and chip makers, like Seagate and Micron. The duo also dives into Robinhood's market debut and the fierce Netflix-Paramount bidding war while outlining big losers like Fiserv and struggling healthcare stocks amid changing policies.
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Young Consumers Pull Back On Dining Out
- High‑valued consumer growth names that catered to Gen Z pulled back as younger consumers tightened spending.
- Chains like Chipotle and fast-casual brands showed notable declines after prior years of strong gains.
AI Narrative Re-Rates Software Winners
- Some software and advertising platforms lagged as investors judged them potentially 'AI‑left‑behind.'
- Trade Desk and Gartner were among the biggest decliners amid those concerns.
Stress‑Test Data‑Center Power Risks
- Expect energy capacity to constrain U.S. data‑center buildouts unless generation and transmission rise faster.
- Investors and lenders should stress-test projects for power cost and availability risks, per Telis and Aaron.