2025 was a contrasted year: a noisier political backdrop under Trump 2.0 with more volatility and, ultimately, another strong year for equities.

Data releases will be sparse during the holiday season as Christmas and New Year’s Day festivities around the world are expected to cool down financial market activity.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has moved from buzzword to backbone of markets. Innovation is accelerating, capital spending is surging, and investors worldwide are paying attention. The excitement has echoes of a modern-day gold rush – but beneath the hype lie real, long-term shifts in how companies create value and compete.

Data-dependent investors may be well rewarded heading into Christmas, with a heavy US data slate – including the delayed jobs report and the key inflation prints.

For investors, the focus will be on the Fed’s decision and any accompanying dissents, while other key central bank meetings include those of the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of Canada, and the Swiss National Bank.

At the start of the final month of the year, investor focus will be on global PMIs to gain insights into activity, prices and jobs in the manufacturing and services sector globally.

The fog is lifting but uncertainty about US data publication persists: We will learn when the delayed economic data will finally be released.

Markets extended their winning streak in October, ushering in stocks’ historically strongest quarter — the most wonderful time of the year. Momentum tends to build gradually: a modest October, a livelier November, and a December that often decides how wonderful the season truly is.