These Were The Best And Worst Performing Assets Of December, Q4 And 2025

Most financial assets had a decent performance in 2025, with global equities, bonds, credit and EM assets all having a strong year. That was driven by continued global growth, ongoing optimism around AI’s potential, and many more central bank rate cuts including the Fed which after pivoting hawkish in Dec 2024, capitulated again and restarted its rate cuts in late 2025.

But there were significant bumps along the way. Most notably, the Liberation Day tariff announcements led to huge turmoil, and the S&P 500 saw its 5th-biggest two-day slide since WWII, at which point most Wall Street banks took down their year-end forecasts dramatically, just in time for the rebound. Separately, the German fiscal stimulus announcement in March led to the 10yr bund yield’s biggest daily jump since German reunification in 1990. And with investors increasingly concerned about long-term inflation risks and potential currency debasement, gold and silver prices posted their biggest annual gain since 1979.