Overnight US stocks | Global stock markets and precious metals performed well in 2025, gold recorded the biggest annual increase since 1979, crude oil, cryptocurrency bleak, Buffett officially retired
The Zhitong Finance App learned that on Wednesday, the three major indices closed down, and the S&P 500 index recorded a fourth consecutive trading day of decline. US stocks ended in 2025. The Dow fell 0.63%, rising for the eighth month in a row, rising 12.97% for the whole year; the S&P 500 index fell 0.74%, rising 16.39% for the whole year; the NASDAQ fell 0.76%, rising 20.36% throughout the year. The three major stock indexes all hit new highs for three consecutive years.
[US stocks] At the close, the Dow fell 303.77 points, or 0.63%, to 48063.29 points; the NASDAQ fell 177.09 points, or 0.76%, to 23241.99 points; the S&P 500 index fell 50.74 points, or 0.74%, to 6845.50 points. Berkshire (BRK.A.US, BRK.B.US) declined slightly, and famous investor Warren Buffett officially retired and stepped down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Tesla (TSLA.US) fell more than 1%, Nvidia (NVDA.US) fell 0.55%, and Micron Technology (MU.US) fell 2.47%.
[Asia Pacific Stock Market] The Nikkei 225 index rose 26% throughout the year, closing at 50,000 points; Korea's KOSPI index rose 75.6% throughout the year, the biggest annual increase since 1999; the Taiwanese weighted index rose 24% over the year, closing at 28963.6 points, and once reached 29,000 points during the year.
[Foreign Exchange] The euro rose 13% in 2025, becoming the biggest foreign exchange winner in 2025; the British pound rose 7%; the US dollar index DXY fell 9%.
[Cryptocurrency] Bitcoin fell by about 6% throughout the year, breaking through a record high of 120,000 US dollars during the year; Ethereum fell by about 10% throughout the year.
[Precious Metals] Thanks to a series of factors such as the Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts, geopolitical hotspots, strong central bank purchases, and capital inflows into ETFs, precious metals performed admirably in 2025. The price of gold surged by about 64%, the biggest annual increase since 1979. Spot silver rose 147% throughout the year, making it the best annual performance in history. Spot platinum increased by more than 128% throughout the year, which is also the strongest annual performance on record. Spot palladium increased by more than 77% throughout the year.
[Metals] Copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed down 136 US dollars to 12,423 US dollars/ton on Wednesday. The cumulative increase in 2025 was nearly 42%, the biggest annual increase in 16 years. Analysts expect that until the US makes a decision on copper tariffs in mid-2026, CME's premium over LME will continue to attract copper into US inventory, thereby tightening supply in traditional consumer centers. Dan Smith, managing director of Commodity Market Analytics, said, “I don't think there will be a reversal anytime soon. These flows are mainly driven by arbitrage and are still subject to US policies, which are difficult to predict.” Smith said that in terms of consumption, seasonal factors will provide short-term support for copper. The first quarter often supports the industrial cycle, and inventories will be replenished substantially before summer arrives.
[Crude oil] WTI crude oil futures for February closed down 0.53 US dollars or 0.91% to 57.42 US dollars/barrel, with a cumulative decline of nearly 20% in 2025. Brent crude oil futures for February closed down 0.48 US dollars or 0.78% to 60.85 US dollars/barrel. The cumulative decline in 2025 was more than 18%, the biggest annual decline since 2020. It fell for the third year in a row, setting the record for the longest continuous decline in history.
[Macro News]
The number of US requests fell to a one-month low at the beginning of the week. The number of jobless claims in the US unexpectedly fell to its lowest level in a month at the beginning of last week, but the unemployment rate is likely to remain high in December due to sluggish recruitment. The number of jobless claims fluctuated greatly at the beginning of recent weeks, as adjusting seasonal fluctuation data ahead of the holiday season was a challenge. The labor market is expected to remain in what economists and policy makers call a “don't hire, don't fry” model. Although the US economy has remained resilient recently, and the GDP growth rate in the third quarter reached the fastest rate in two years, the labor market almost stagnated. Economists say labor demand and supply are affected by import tariffs and a crackdown on immigration.
J.P. Morgan Chase: The US labor market is expected to slow down and then rise in 2026. J.P. Morgan said that the US labor market has shown a cooling trend after a year of economic and financial market turmoil. It is expected that 2026 will start slowly and gradually improve in the second half of the year. According to a forecast report released by the bank earlier this month, the weakening of employment growth in 2025 can be attributed to commercial uncertainty caused by tariffs and trade policies. The bank's economist Michael Ferrori said, “As a result, companies are still facing difficulties in long-term and short-term planning, and layoffs and recruitment rates are low. When companies are uncertain about the situation in the next six months, they are often wary of large-scale employee increases or decreases.” Furthermore, the Trump administration's immigration controls and deportations have surpassed expectations. The reduction in labor supply, combined with a relatively stable labor participation rate, means that the number of new monthly jobs required to maintain a stable unemployment rate may plummet from 50,000 to only 15,000. Although the employment balance growth rate is declining, the unemployment rate is expected to gradually rise.
Moody's analysis: The Federal Reserve may actively cut interest rates three times in the first half of 2026. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, believes that weak labor markets, inflationary uncertainty, and political pressure will push the Federal Reserve to actively cut interest rates in early 2026. Although both the market and Fed officials expect only moderate easing next year, Zandi expects the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates three times in the first half of the year, by 25 basis points each time.” Behind the further easing of monetary policy will be the still weak job market, especially in early 2026. Businesses will need more time to be confident that changing trade and immigration policies and other threats won't catch them off guard before they resume hiring.” He added: “Until then, employment growth will not be enough to stop the unemployment rate from rising further. As long as the unemployment rate continues to rise, the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.” Zandi's predictions are at least more aggressive than those of the market and the Federal Reserve, both of which point to a slower pace of interest rate cuts.
The richest people in the world have increased their wealth by a record $2.2 trillion this year. According to media reports, the Institutional Billionaires Index shows that the collective wealth of the world's 500 richest people increased by a record $2.2 trillion this year, and all markets, from stocks to cryptocurrencies to precious metals, are booming, causing their asset values to soar. This increase in wealth brought their total net worth to $11.9 trillion. Among them, tech giants led the way, and fanaticism for artificial intelligence continued to boost large US stocks. About a quarter of all wealth growth recorded by the Institutional Wealth Index came from 8 people, including Oracle (ORCL.N) Chairman Larry Ellison, Tesla (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk, Alphabet (GOOG.O) co-founder Larry Page, and Amazon (AMZN.O) founder Jeff Bezos. However, it is worth noting that this is a smaller contribution than last year, when these 8 billionaires contributed 43% of the total revenue.
[Individual Stock News]
Trump Media Technology Group (DJT.US): Digital tokens based on the Cronos blockchain will be issued to share holders. Trump Media and Technology Group announced that it will issue a new digital token to DJT stock holders in the near future. For every share of DJT held, you will receive a token and enjoy benefits or benefits related to platforms such as Truth Social and Truth+. The tokens are issued on the Cronos blockchain, and the partner is Crypto.com. It is not transferable or exchangeable for cash in the future, and has no ownership interest in the company.