A gauge of global equities ended a seven-day winning streak on Monday while still staying on course to cap its best year since 2019. Silver continued to be volatile after tumbling 9% in the previous session, a selloff that followed a historic surge powered by speculative trades and fears of a supply shortage.
For several Asian equity markets, including South Korea, Japan and Thailand, Tuesday marks the last trade session of the year.The MSCI All Country World Index has climbed 21% in 2025 and a measure of Asian stocks has rallied almost 26%. Even as the S&P 500 — up some 17% — has underperformed many global peers, an optimistic consensus is taking hold that US stocks will continue rallying in 2026 after three straight years of gains.
Despite a raft of risks spanning a potential bust in the artificial-intelligence advance to unanticipated policy shocks, sell-side strategists are forecasting another 9% average gain in the S&P 500 next year.
Meantime, President Donald Trump teased that he has a preferred candidate to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve, but is in no hurry to make an announcement — while also musing that he might fire the central bank’s current leader, Jerome Powell.
Investors were also assessing the outlook for US interest rates and monetary policy. Wall Street interest-rate strategists — with several notable exceptions — expect stable-to-higher Treasury yields in 2026 despite Fed interest-rate cuts.The Fed is due to release minutes of its December meeting later on Tuesday.
Elsewhere in markets, Bitcoin was little changed. The cryptocurrency topped $90,000 in the last session before erasing its gain. A gauge of the dollar was steady.
Oil held the bulk of a gain as traders weighed geopolitical tensions from Venezuela to Russia and Iran against concerns about a glut. West Texas Intermediate traded near $58 a barrel after rising 2.4% on Monday, while Brent settled below $62.
With inputs from Bloomberg
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