Skip to main content
This guide covers researching macro themes, the big forces like interest rates, policy shifts, and geopolitics, and turning them into actionable investment ideas. Macro research is most useful when you connect the theme back to specific names, which is exactly what Driven is built to do. The Skill behind this workflow is Deep Research.

​
When to use this

  • Understanding how a macro event affects markets
  • Finding the companies that benefit or suffer from a policy change
  • Building a view on a theme (rates, inflation, a geopolitical shift)
  • Getting context before a major scheduled event (FOMC, key data releases)

​
Step 1: Frame the theme

Run Deep Research on [macro theme]. Explain the dynamics, the likely paths, the key risks, and which markets and sectors are most exposed.
Example: 
Run Deep Research on the impact of sustained higher interest rates on US equities. Which sectors are most exposed, and what's the transmission mechanism?

​
Step 2: Connect macro to specific names

This is the step that turns a thesis into an idea: 
Based on this theme, identify the public companies most positively and most negatively exposed, and explain the channel for each.

​
Step 3: Stress-test the thesis

Macro views are easy to hold and hard to verify. Challenge it: 
What's the strongest argument against this macro thesis, and what data would tell me I'm wrong?

​
Step 4: Set up monitoring

Macro themes play out over time. Track them: 
Set up a weekly summary of the key data and events relevant to [theme], and flag anything that changes the picture.
See Macro event tracker to automate this.

​
Common mistakes

  • Stopping at the thesis. A macro view with no named beneficiaries is an opinion, not an idea.
  • Ignoring what’s priced in. Markets often anticipate macro shifts; ask what is already reflected.
  • Treating macro as certain. Frame it in probabilities and watch for disconfirming data.

​
Prompt variations

How would [specific policy change] flow through to [sector]? Map the winners and losers.

What does the current rate environment mean for [specific stock or sector]?