Global Research Highlights Halftime Report & All Things "AI" Investment Strategy Resilient growth in a precarious world As we close out the first half of the year, BofA's Head of Global Econ, Claudio Irigoyen, upgrades our 2025 global growth forecast by 20bp, largely explained by China benefiting from the trade truce. We expect the global economy to grow 3% in 2025 and 2026, accelerating to 3.3% in 2027. We forecast global inflation to hover around 2.5% as economies absorb the tariffs shock. While trade de- ...

Core Insights - A report from Bank of America Securities (BofA) indicates a significant medium-term increase in software spending driven by AI agents, despite current market caution regarding generative AI adoption and monetization [1] - BofA projects that spending on agentic AI technology could reach $155 billion by 2030, which is three times higher than most current industry analyst estimates [2] Industry Analysis - Agentic functionality is seen as a crucial factor for AI monetization, potentially leading to sustainable and measurable productivity improvements in the workforce [3] - BofA estimates that global knowledge worker wages across seven major occupation categories total $18.6 trillion annually, with a projection that agents could perform 10% of workflows by 2030, translating to $1.9 trillion in automation-driven value [4] Market Potential - If software vendors capture approximately 8% of the automation-driven value, this would result in global agentic AI spending of $155 billion, equating to a 12 times return on investment for customers [5] - Surveys indicate that 64% of organizations plan to pursue agentic AI initiatives by 2025, although many are still in the early stages of deployment [5][6] Adoption Trends - As of January 2025, 53% of organizations are in the exploration stage of agentic AI initiatives, 25% are in the pilot stage, and only 6% are in production [6] - Key job functions expected to adopt agentic technologies first include customer service, marketing, sales, and software development [6] Key Beneficiaries - Notable companies identified as key beneficiaries of AI include Microsoft Corp, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Intuit, HubSpot, GitLab, and OneStream, all of which have significant customer datasets and data management capabilities [7][8] - These companies are expected to begin monetizing their AI features and products around calendar 2026 [8]