"Unprecedented" and "unpredictable" are the favorite go-to terms for predicting the immediate or long-term outlook. Yet investors and allocators must make decisions based on what they think the future holds. With everyone looking for answers, the challenge is to identify trends you can bank on. As fundraising is reaching all-time highs, are deals set to make a roaring comeback? And what do tense Sino-American relations and endless quantitative easing may mean for portfolios and risk management?