how has the stock market done in 2025: review

How the stock market performed in 2025

how has the stock market done in 2025 is a common query for investors and observers looking to summarize the calendar-year performance of public equity markets. In this long-form review we answer that question with headline numbers, sector and country breakdowns, major drivers (AI spending, monetary policy, trade noise), a timeline of volatility events, cross-asset impacts, and implications for 2026. Readers will get verifiable figures (with sources and dates), plain-language explanations for beginners, and pointers to additional resources including Bitget’s trading and custody offerings.

Quick takeaway (what you’ll learn)

• how has the stock market done in 2025: Major U.S. indices posted another year of double-digit gains, led by technology and semiconductors, while many international markets outperformed the U.S. (As of Dec 31, 2025 — see Sources).
• You’ll see index return ranges, sector winners/losers, the key events that moved markets, and cross-asset effects on precious metals, crypto and bonds.
• The article cites market reports and news items with reporting dates so readers can verify figures and context.

Overview and key metrics

As of Dec 31, 2025, major market wrap-ups and institutional reports described 2025 as a broadly positive year for equities with material volatility episodes:

• S&P 500: reported calendar-year price returns were broadly cited in the mid-to-high double digits. Sources summarized a range of roughly +20% to +26% (price return) depending on reporting convention. (Sources: CNN Business, Fidelity — reported Dec 31, 2025; see References.)
• Nasdaq Composite / Nasdaq 100: widely reported tech-led gains; several outlets cited returns in the +30% to +40% range, with a commonly quoted figure of ~+36% for Nasdaq 100 in 2025 (price return). (Sources: ABC News; MarketWatch reporting on year-end data.)
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: more modest gains relative to growth-heavy indices, typically reported in the single- to low-double-digit range (~+8% to +12% price return). (Sources: BBC; TradingEconomics — Dec 2025 summaries.)
• Russell 2000 (small caps): mixed performance; mid- and small-caps lagged large-cap tech in many stretches, producing below-large-cap returns for the calendar year (varying by source).
• International benchmarks: several non-U.S. indices outperformed the U.S. in total returns, especially in parts of Asia and Europe where fiscal support or sector composition favored 2025 winners. MSCI ACWI ex-USA was widely cited as outperforming the U.S. on a relative basis. (Sources: CNN Business; J.P. Morgan year-end notes.)

Notes on conventions: Where sources did not state total-return vs price-return, this article flags the convention used. Many news outlets report price returns unless otherwise noted; institutional reports often present both price and total return figures. See Methodology and Data Notes for details.

Major index performance

S&P 500: sustained gains and context

As of Dec 31, 2025, the S&P 500 completed its third straight year of double-digit gains, according to multiple year-end market wrap-ups. Reported price-return ranges center on approximately +20% to +26% for calendar year 2025 (price-only figures reported by news outlets and financial firms). This extended multi-year advance raised valuation conversations even as bench-level earnings growth helped justify part of the move. (Sources: CNN — Dec 31, 2025; Fidelity — 2025 market report.)

Nasdaq Composite / Nasdaq 100: AI and semiconductors drove leadership

The Nasdaq family of indices led in 2025. The Nasdaq 100 was commonly cited with gains near +36% for 2025 (price return), reflecting heavy contributions from semiconductor and platform companies tied to AI infrastructure spending. The concentration of gains in a subset of tech and chip stocks was a notable feature. (Sources: MarketWatch; ABC News — Dec 2025 reporting.)

Dow Jones Industrial Average: steady but less dramatic

The Dow, with its cyclical and industrial weighting, posted more modest gains than growth-heavy indices. Reported 2025 returns for the Dow generally fell into the single- to low-double-digit band, reflecting steadier corporate cash flows and less leverage to the AI investment theme. (Sources: BBC; TradingEconomics.)

Russell 2000 and mid-caps: mixed performance

Small- and mid-cap indices underperformed large-cap growth for much of the year. Concerns about trade policy, supply-chain uncertainty and higher financing costs in certain periods limited small-cap upside. Nevertheless, some mid-cap industrial and materials names participated in rallies tied to cyclical rebounds. (Sources: Fidelity; J.P. Morgan wrap-ups.)

Selected international indices

Several Asian and European indices delivered strong returns in 2025, outpacing the U.S. in USD terms in many cases. Notable country performers included South Korea (KOSPI), Japan (Nikkei), and Taiwan — driven in part by semiconductor-related exports and manufacturing demand tied to AI infrastructure. China showed selective rallies in large-cap technology and consumer names after episodic policy signals. (Sources: CNN Business; J.P. Morgan; Investing.com reports — Dec 2025.)

Notable market milestones and statistics

• Record highs: Multiple U.S. indices hit all-time highs during 2025 with several peaks clustered in the second half of the year. (Source: TradingEconomics; CNN — Dec 2025.)
• Dollar and FX: The U.S. dollar weakened versus a basket of developed-market currencies at points in 2025, amplifying USD returns for non-U.S. equities when measured in dollars. (Sources: BBC; Fidelity.)
• Concentration: A small group of large-cap technology and semiconductor companies contributed a disproportionate share of index gains, increasing headline index levels even as breadth measures lagged. (Sources: MarketMinute / FinancialContent; J.P. Morgan retrospectives.)

Major drivers of 2025 performance

AI investment cycle

One dominant narrative in 2025 was a large, observable AI capex and deployment cycle. Cloud providers, hyperscalers, and large enterprise customers committed to powerful AI training and inference infrastructure. This drove strong revenue visibility for semiconductor firms and select hardware players. News reports and research notes throughout 2025 cited clear orderbooks and margin expansion for chipmakers tied to AI compute demand. (Sources: J.P. Morgan; Bloomberg Intelligence summaries noted in MarketWatch reporting.)

Monetary policy and yields

The Federal Reserve’s communications and the path of short-term rates influenced investor risk appetite. In 2025 the markets reacted to a mix of disinflation signals and occasional inflation surprises. Expectations for eventual policy easing (or a pause in hikes) supported equities in parts of the year, while rate-sensitivity created periodic pullbacks. (Sources: BBC; Fidelity — 2025 report.)

Trade policy and tariffs: the April tariff shock

An April tariff announcement created a sharp, but temporary, risk-off response in global equities. The market reaction reflected concerns about supply chains and the profit outlook for export-oriented firms. Subsequent negotiations and partial walkbacks helped markets recover after the shock. (Sources: CNN Business; BBC — reporting on April 2025 events.)

Fiscal policy and international stimulus

Fiscal support in parts of Europe and targeted incentives in Japan helped support non-U.S. equity demand. Defense and infrastructure spending in selected economies also provided cyclical lift to industrial and materials stocks. (Sources: Fidelity; J.P. Morgan — Dec 2025 commentary.)

Macroeconomic backdrop

Global GDP growth in 2025 was uneven but generally positive. Inflation trends moved toward stabilization from earlier peaks, and labor markets in several advanced economies remained resilient. Energy price stability helped ease input-cost pressures for many firms. These combined factors supported risk assets for much of the year. (Sources: TradingEconomics; IMF summaries cited in institutional wrap-ups.)

Sector and factor performance

Sector winners

• Semiconductors / Hardware: Clear winners due to AI infrastructure demand. Chipmakers with data-center exposure delivered outsized revenue growth and profit forecasts. (Sources: Bloomberg Intelligence reporting summarized in MarketWatch.)
• Technology platforms and select large-cap AI beneficiaries: Some large software and platform firms with direct AI offerings or hosting capabilities enjoyed strong multiple expansion — though this leadership was uneven across software subgroups.
• Industrials / Materials: Benefited episodically from fiscal and infrastructure spending in some regions.

Sector losers or underperformers

• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): The software group faced valuation compression and investor skepticism. Multiple outlets reported software stocks experiencing a tough year in 2025, with some names posting steep declines as AI competition and execution questions weighed on expectations. (As of Jan 14, 2026 reporting noted below; Sources: MarketWatch / Yahoo Finance — Jan 2026 coverage on software weakness.)
• Select consumer discretionary pockets and certain financials were also out of favor at times depending on macro risks.

Growth vs Value and market-cap effects

Large-cap growth, particularly AI-related growth, outperformed broad value and small-cap indices in aggregate for much of the year. That produced a style divergence: growth factors led on a total return basis where AI beneficiaries posted strong earnings upgrades, while value lagged until cyclical pockets regained momentum later in the year. Small caps underperformed large caps in many stretches. (Sources: J.P. Morgan; Fidelity.)

Regional and country performance

• South Korea (KOSPI): Strong showing driven by semiconductor exports and equipment demand.
• Japan (Nikkei): Gains driven by corporate reforms, fiscal support and manufacturing exposure to AI supply chains.
• Taiwan: Rally supported by foundry strength and the central role of local chip manufacturers in the global supply chain.
• China: A selective rally in large-tech and consumer names followed improving signals from policy makers, but performance varied by sector and by whether firms were exposed to regulatory or property sector risk.
• Europe: Mixed performance, though some markets benefited from fiscal packages and defensible corporate earnings. (Sources: CNN Business; Investing.com; J.P. Morgan wrap-up notes — Dec 2025.)

Notable corporate winners and losers

Standout winners

• Nvidia: Widely cited as a principal beneficiary of the AI hardware cycle; strong contribution to Nasdaq returns in 2025. (Sources: MarketWatch; Bloomberg summarizations.)
• TSMC and Taiwan foundries: Benefited from capacity demand for AI chips and strong order visibility. (Sources: J.P. Morgan; CNN Business.)
• Select industrials and memory makers: Companies tied to data-center infrastructure and storage saw cyclically improved demand and pricing power in parts of 2025.

Underperformers and challenged names

• Several traditional SaaS companies saw steep share-price declines in 2025 amid investor concerns about competitive threats from new AI agents and slower revenue acceleration. Examples highlighted by reporting include large software firms with significant declines in multi-week stretches. (As of Jan 14, 2026 reporting — MarketWatch / Yahoo Finance coverage.)
• Companies with heavy exposure to tariff-impacted supply chains or with near-term margin pressure underperformed around the April tariff shock.

Company snapshots (how they moved markets)

• Nvidia: Strong revenue outlook from AI training hardware orders; widely cited as a top contributor to index gains in 2025.
• TSMC: Foundry order strength and capacity commitments for advanced nodes supported the Taiwan market and related suppliers.
• Salesforce / Adobe / Intuit (software examples): In early 2026 reporting, software sector weakness persisted with near-term stock declines tied to competitive fears around AI agents and mixed evidence of AI-driven revenue lifts. For instance, Intuit experienced a reported sharp short-term drop following investor concerns (reported Jan 2026); Salesforce and Adobe had notable price weakness in the same timeframe while the broader Nasdaq remained near highs. (Sources: MarketWatch / Yahoo Finance — reporting Jan 12–14, 2026.)

Volatility and major events timeline

Below is a chronological summary of the major market-moving events in 2025 and early 2026 that affected stocks:

• Early 2025: Positive sentiment around AI infrastructure orders pushed chipmakers and certain cloud providers higher.
• April 2025: Tariff announcements produced an acute sell-off across global equities; subsequent negotiations and partial reversals limited the long-term damage, but the episode created temporary volatility. (Sources: CNN Business; BBC — April reports.)
• Mid-2025: Earnings seasons confirmed stronger-than-expected semiconductor revenue but showed mixed results for software firms attempting to monetize AI products.
• Late 2025: Record highs for several indices; market breadth lagged due to concentration in top tech names.
• Jan 2026 (early-year continuation): New AI product launches from startups and renewed competition concerns accelerated a sell-off in certain software names — MarketWatch reported that software group weakness spilled into the start of 2026, with some large names posting multi-week declines. (As of Jan 14, 2026 reporting — MarketWatch/Yahoo Finance.)

Magnitude: Intraday and multi-week drawdowns occurred during tariff and policy shocks, but by year-end most headline indices had recovered and finished with positive calendar returns. (Sources: TradingEconomics; CNN Business — Dec 31, 2025.)

Cross-asset impacts and correlations

Precious metals (gold & silver)

Gold and silver saw meaningful rallies at different points in late 2025 into early 2026. Silver notably reached multi-year highs and posted extraordinary percentage gains in late 2025 (reports cited near-150% year-over-year for silver into late 2025). Drivers included safe-haven demand, physical accumulation, ETF inflows, and geopolitical risk premiums cited by commodity commentators. (Source: Investopedia / MarketWatch summaries — Dec 2025 reporting.)

Cryptocurrencies

Crypto assets behaved differently from equities in parts of 2025. While some risk-on periods saw parallel gains, there were stretches where Bitcoin and others lagged or diverged from equity performance. Crypto flows and retail investor behavior (including wallet growth and on-chain activity metrics) were highlighted as important cross-asset signals. (Sources: institutional wrap-ups and market reporting — Dec 2025 summaries.)

Bonds and yields

Movements in yields influenced equity valuations. Periods of declining real yields supported elevated equity multiples, especially for long-duration growth names tied to AI narratives. Conversely, yield upticks put pressure on rate-sensitive sectors and small caps. (Sources: Fidelity; TradingEconomics.)

USD movements

A weaker U.S. dollar at times amplified the USD returns of international equities, contributing to the outperformance of some non-U.S. markets in dollar terms. (Sources: CNN Business; MarketMinute.)

Market structure, breadth and concentration

2025’s market advance featured pronounced concentration: a handful of mega-cap technology and semiconductor firms contributed a large share of index-level returns. Breadth measures indicated that fewer stocks were participating in the rally even as headline indices reached new highs. Analysts cautioned that concentrated rallies can mask underlying weakness across broader market capitalization universes. (Sources: FinancialContent / MarketMinute; J.P. Morgan commentary.)

Investor behavior and flows

• Retail vs institutional: Retail participation remained meaningful (many retail investors continue to favor thematic and high-growth exposures), while institutional flows favored large-cap AI beneficiaries and chipmakers with visible earnings upgrades.
• ETF flows: Equity ETFs saw net inflows during risk-on periods; specialty ETFs tied to semiconductors and AI infrastructure recorded meaningful asset growth.
• Risk appetite: Surveys and flow data in 2025 suggested a general willingness to hold growth exposures, though episodic risk-off sentiment (e.g., around tariffs) triggered rotation to defensive assets.

(Sources: Fidelity, J.P. Morgan, and market-flow summaries in year-end wrap-ups.)

Risks, concerns and criticisms voiced in 2025

Analysts and commentators highlighted several recurring concerns during 2025:

• Valuation stretch: Elevated multiples for a small group of AI beneficiaries prompted questions about sustainability and expected returns.
• AI narrative risk: For some software companies, investor concerns about AI agents disrupting their core business models led to valuation resets even when fundamentals (recurring revenue, margins) remained solid. Market coverage in early Jan 2026 emphasized these fears for software stocks. (Source: MarketWatch / Yahoo Finance — Jan 12–14, 2026 reporting.)
• Policy and trade uncertainty: Tariff-related shocks raised alarms about supply chains and earnings visibility for exporters.

All of these were active themes that market participants monitored heading into 2026. (Sources: CNN; J.P. Morgan; MarketWatch.)

Outlook and implications for 2026 (what analysts said)

Analysts and strategists offered scenario-based views entering 2026:

• Bull case: Continued AI capex and clearer monetization pathways for AI-enabled products would support earnings upgrades and justify parts of 2025’s rerating.
• Caution case: Valuation compression for software and potential policy shocks (trade or monetary) could produce uneven returns and further rotation across sectors.

Many institutions emphasized the need to watch earnings revision trends, Fed communications, and execution on AI product monetization as primary determinants of 2026 performance. (Sources: J.P. Morgan, Fidelity — year-end and early-2026 strategist notes.)

Methodology and data notes

• Reporting dates: Numerical summaries and quotes in this article are labeled with source and reporting date where available. For example: “As of Dec 31, 2025, according to CNN Business” or “As of Jan 14, 2026, MarketWatch reported…”.
• Return conventions: Where possible this article distinguishes price returns (ex-dividend) from total return (including dividends). Many news reports at year-end published price returns; institutional reports may provide total-return figures.
• Data sources: This article synthesizes public news reporting and institutional commentary listed in References. Index returns and sector attributions are drawn from the cited year-end reports and market wrap-ups.
• No hyperlinks: Sources are identified by name and date; URLs are not included per platform guidelines.

References (selected, with reporting dates)

• CNN Business — “US stocks had a remarkable 2025. But international markets did much better” (reported Dec 31, 2025).
• Fidelity — “2025 stock market report” (institutional year-end summary; reported Dec 2025).
• BBC — “US stock market ends 2025 on a high note after volatile year” (reported Dec 31, 2025).
• ABC News — “Stock market ends 2025 with double-digit gains” (Dec 31, 2025).
• Investing.com — “How the Stock Market Performed in 2025” (year-end roundup; Dec 2025).
• MarketWatch / Yahoo Finance — coverage of early 2026 software-sector weakness and AI product developments (reported Jan 12–14, 2026).
• TradingEconomics — “US Stocks Close 2025 Near Records After Turbulent Year” (Dec 2025 data summary).
• U.S. News / Associated Press — “US Stocks Rose Again in 2025 After Overcoming Turbulence…” (Dec 2025).
• FinancialContent / MarketMinute — “2025 Year-End Market Review…” (Dec 2025).
• J.P. Morgan — “In the Rear View: How Did Our 2025 Themes Pan Out?” (institutional note; Dec 2025).

Notes: All references above are used to synthesize the facts presented. Figures quoted as ranges reflect differences in reporting conventions (price vs total returns) among the sources.

How to verify the figures and next steps

• Check each source’s original year-end report for precise price vs total return conventions and index definitions.
• For live trading or custody, consider platform and wallet security: Bitget offers trading infrastructure and Bitget Wallet for custody and Web3 access (recommendation for platform services only; not investment advice).

Final notes and further reading

how has the stock market done in 2025 is a question with a relatively straightforward headline answer — major indexes finished the year higher, with tech and chipmakers leading — but the underlying story is nuanced: concentrated gains, sector divergence (software struggles vs chip outperformance), policy shocks (tariffs), and cross-asset movements (silver and gold rallies) all shaped the year. Readers who want to track market flows and custody options can explore Bitget’s product suite and Bitget Wallet for asset management, research tools, and secure custody.

For a deeper dive into any single section above (index-level returns, sector case studies, or the timeline of tariff events), consult the specific institutional wrap-ups listed in References and the primary reporting dates cited in this article.

Reminder: This article is informational and data-driven. It does not provide investment advice or recommendations.