S&P 500 and Nasdaq Close Out 2025 With a Third Straight Double-Digit Annual Gain

US stocks slipped on the final trading day of 2025, with the S&P 500, Nasdaq, gold, and silver all pulling back slightly, but the broader index still closed the year up approximately 16%, marking a third consecutive year of double-digit gains for both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, their longest winning streak since 2021.

The Fed's preferred inflation gauge, the core Personal Consumption Expenditures index, rose 0.36% in December and 3.0% year-over-year, with price pressure concentrated in recreation services, financial services, and tariff-sensitive goods categories, underscoring that inflation remained above the central bank's target even as markets rallied through the year.

Labor market data released around the same time showed a more complicated picture than headline numbers suggested: annual revisions reduced the estimated level of payrolls at the end of 2025 by roughly one million jobs, suggesting the labor market had been cooling somewhat faster than initially reported throughout the year.

Strategists heading into 2026 were broadly split on whether the market's three-year run could continue, with bulls pointing to continued AI-driven earnings growth and bears citing stretched valuations and persistent inflation as reasons for caution.