The MSCI All Country World Index – one of the broadest measures of the equity market – is up 21% this year with just one trading day left in 2025. Asian equities are also set for a third annual gain, and the best since 2017. Several markets are already closed for the year, including Japan and South Korea.
While most of the focus was on equities, precious metals have emerged as one of the hottest corners of the market. Both gold and silver were poised for their best annual gains since 1979. Bitcoin, however, was poised for its second annual decline in four years. A Bloomberg gauge of the dollar fell 8.1% this year, its biggest decline since 2017.
Equities hit all-time highs in 2025 on optimism about economic growth, corporate earnings and looser monetary policy, helping markets recover from an April slump that was triggered by President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Still, heading into 2026, investors face high valuations and a growing divide among policymakers on the scope for further easing, as evidenced by Tuesday’s release of the Fed’s last policy meeting.
“The overriding theme is that global stock indices have lost momentum to end the year,” XTB’s director of research Kathleen Brooks wrote in a note. “There are a number of reasons for this, including decent returns to 2025, and investors waiting to make big trading decisions until after the Christmas break.”
Meanwhile, US stocks were modestly lower on Tuesday even after minutes from the Fed’s December meeting reinforced expectations of more rate cuts next year. Records of the central bank’s December meeting show that policymakers remained divided on when and how far to cut.
The minutes highlighted the division among policymakers, and how difficult it was for them to cut by a quarter percentage point earlier this month.
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