Even as trillions of dollars are flowing into artificial intelligence investments, fears are growing that the bubble could burst this year. As in the run-up to previous crashes, many are both optimistic and fearful.

Deutsche Bank polled 440 investors, economists and analysts to find out what they see as the biggest risks to market stability in 2026. Respondents could select up to three answers. Here are the top two they picked:

• 57 percent fear a plunge in technology valuations or reduced valuations for artificial intelligence investments.
• 27 percent fear that U.S. President Donald Trump will appoint a new Federal Reserve chair who pushes for aggressive cuts to interest rates.

The global financial system is already fragile, and the AI craze is making it worse. Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote on December 29 that industry leader OpenAI says it will invest $3 trillion in data centers and power through 2031, even though it and its competitors have yet to make a profit. That means these massive investments are still speculative: They are a gamble.

The worries about the AI bubble and U.S. economy don’t seem to be accompanied by the necessary precautions. The money just keeps flowing. As the Guardian put it on January 4: “Investors expect global stock markets to keep rising in 2026, despite fears that the AI bubble could burst, and anxiety about chaos engulfing the U.S. central bank.”

President Trump has already raised the stakes in the global economy by raising tariffs and starting what could be called a cold trade war, in an attempt to stop money from bleeding out of the U.S. economy as it has for decades. Some nations have negotiated new terms with the U.S., but the old system is not just in turmoil—it’s gone for good.

As Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explained in “A Financial Crisis Is Imminent,” “America’s financial markets are on shaky ground. One wrong move and the whole financial system could collapse.”