Business
US stock market ends 2025 on a high note after volatile year
Danielle KayeBusiness reporter
Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesIt’s been a roller-coaster year for financial markets – but US stock investors are heading into 2026 on a high note.
US President Donald Trump’s global trade tariffs sent shockwaves through markets in the spring. But by summer, the US saw record highs fuelled by strong company profits and confidence in artificial intelligence investments.
The S&P 500 index is on track to end the year up about 17%, the third consecutive year of double-digit gains.
Next year could shape up to be yet another big one for stock investors, analysts say. Still, with leadership changes at the US central bank and mounting concerns that AI stocks are overvalued, the path ahead might be bumpy.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite index is poised for a 21% gain this year, while the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies is roughly 12% higher year-to-date.
In early April, when Trump announced sweeping tariffs on US trading partners, the S&P 500 fell to the brink of bear market territory – Wall Street’s term for a drop of 20% from the latest high. Both the Nasdaq Composite and Russell 2000 indexes did briefly tumble into bear markets.
But major indexes quickly bounced back after Trump walked back his steepest tariffs, easing Wall Street’s fears about a tariff-driven economic slowdown.
Stocks have since surged to new highs.
That’s been in spite of persistent jitters about the economy, Robert Edwards, chief investment officer at Edwards Asset Management, said in a note.
“The market continues to climb the wall of worry into next year,” he said.
He added that 2026 “should be another year of record setting for stocks”, pointing in part to expectations for lower borrowing costs, which could boost corporate earnings and drive stock prices higher.
Strong earnings growth in corporate America has been a key driver of the stock market rally since the tariff-driven whiplash in the spring, said Parag Thatte, an equity strategist at Deutsche Bank.
At the same time, geopolitical tensions, Trump’s tariffs and expectations of interest rate cuts added to investor demand this year for safe haven assets, such as gold and other commodities. The price of gold is on track for a nearly 70% yearly increase.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, has struggled to keep up with strong returns across stocks and gold.
Despite getting a boost earlier in the year from the Trump administration’s support for digital assets, the world’s largest cryptocurrency is poised to end 2025 slightly lower, after a sharp decline from its record highs in October.
ReutersBroadening beyond tech
Enthusiasm among investors about massive AI spending has helped several tech firms outperform the broader S&P 500.
The top five companies – Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet – make up almost 30% of the overall index.
But in recent months, fears have mounted in Silicon Valley and beyond of an AI bubble bursting, as the values of tech companies linked to AI have soared and companies keep spending big on the burgeoning industry.
Analysts note that corporate earnings growth appears to be broadening out beyond the tech sector. That could offer investors a cushion, as tech company valuations remain under intense scrutiny.
Mr Thatte, with Deutsche Bank, said growth picked up for average-sized companies in the third quarter of 2025, not just for tech giants. He called this a “key development”.
But even with increasingly broad gains across the US stock market, whether the S&P 500 can maintain its momentum if the tech sector’s rally were to slow remains to be seen.
“The rotation is already happening,” Mr Thatte said, referring to investors pivoting away from Big Tech stocks. “It might be noisy along the way.”
There are also ongoing concerns among professional investors that some stocks outside of tech are overvalued, too.
Analysts at Vanguard predict annualized returns of about 3.5% to 5.5% for US stocks over the next decade – a relatively subdued outlook, compared to recent gains.
JOHN G MABANGLO/EPA/ShutterstockPolicy risk is ‘not subsiding’
In 2025, the US economy “probably held up better than most people had expected,” said David Sekera, chief US market strategist at Morningstar.
The world’s largest economy picked up speed over the three months to September, expanding at an annual rate of 4.3%, up from 3.8% in the previous quarter – the strongest growth in two years.
But that’s not to say there aren’t big economic question marks in the months ahead.
There’s still the possibility that Trump tariff policies could prompt another jolt to markets. Negotations between Washington and major trading partners will be “an ongoing headline”, Mr Sekera said.
The US labour market has also shown signs of weakness. The unemployment rate rose to a four-year high of 4.6% in November, up from 4.4% in September, according to Labor Department figures.
“With policy risk not subsiding anytime soon,” analysts at Charles Schwab wrote in a research note, “the bar for a pullback or mini correction in the beginning of 2026 is not terribly high.”
Trump is also expected to name a new Federal Reserve chair in the coming weeks, to succeed Jerome Powell after his term ends in May.
The decision is “the big uncertainty” for investors heading into 2026, Paul Stanley, chief investment officer at Granite Bay Wealth Management, said in a note.
Trump, who has been pressuring Powell to lower interest rates, has said he will pick a Fed chair who he views as committed to easing borrowing costs.
Wall Street investors will be focused on understanding how the change in leadership will impact monetary policy moving forward.
“Fed chair transitions come with volatility,” Mr Stanley said.
That leaves investors facing down plenty of unpredictability, even as analysts anticipate another strong year ahead.
Business
Intellia Therapeutics says its Crispr-based treatment succeeds in pivotal trial
Intellia Therapeutics, building exterior and company sign, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Spencer Grant | Universal Images Group | Getty Images
Intellia Therapeutics said its Crispr-based treatment for a rare swelling condition met its goals in a late-stage trial, marking a milestone for the field of gene editing and putting the company on track to seek approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The company’s treatment uses Nobel Prize-winning technology Crispr to edit DNA and turn off the gene that controls production of a peptide that’s overactive in people with hereditary angioedema, causing them to experience potentially life-threatening swelling attacks. Intellia’s treatment is administered once through an hourslong infusion, making the edits directly in the liver.
Intellia said the one-time treatment reduced attacks by 87% compared with a placebo, meeting the study’s main goal. Six months after treatment, 62% of patients were free from attacks and weren’t using other therapies, Intellia said.
The company described the safety and tolerability of the treatment as “favorable,” reporting the most common side effects were infusion-related reactions, headaches and fatigue. Analysts were closely watching safety in the trial since a patient in a separate trial of a different treatment from Intellia died. That patient developed a liver injury and ultimately died from septic shock following an ulcer, according to the company.
“When you think about where we started with Crispr, just 12 years ago with some of the fundamental insights, I think there was a lot of talk about what might be possible, and we’ve had reports along the way in terms of milestones, but this is the first Phase 3 data in any indication with in vivo Crispr where you’re actually changing a gene that causes disease,” said Intellia CEO John Leonard.
The only FDA-approved Crispr-based medicine comes from Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Called Casgevy, the gene editing is done outside the body, or ex vivo. The process requires collecting a person’s blood cells, making the edits outside the body, then reinfusing them back into a patient. Intellia’s treatment, meanwhile, makes the edits inside the body, or in vivo.
Intellia said it has started a rolling application with the FDA and plans to complete the filing in the second half of this year. The company expects to launch the treatment in the U.S. in the first half of next year, if it’s approved.
If approved, Intellia’s treatment, lonvoguran ziclumeran, will compete with about a dozen other chronic drugs for HAE. Despite the allure of a one-time treatment, genetic medicines haven’t always been a commercial successes. BioMarin withdrew its gene therapy for Hemophilia A because of weak sales, for example.
Leonard said there are important differences between the two, like the fact that BioMarin’s therapy faced questions about how long the effects would last. In contrast, he said Intellia hasn’t seen a single case in almost six years where the effects diminished over time.
Despite the results, he’s reluctant to call Intellia’s treatment a functional cure.
“I think this is a tipping point for the disease and tipping point for Crispr-based in vivo therapy where you can make a change [and] it’s permanent,” Leonard said. “And, as far as we can tell, we don’t have a single patient in this program or other program where there’s been any waning of the effect of what we did to the gene or the effect of what we’ve seen with the clinical aspects of the disease itself. So it’s pretty exciting.”
Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify that a patient in a separate trial of a different treatment from Intellia developed acute liver injury and ultimately died from septic shock following an ulcer.
Business
Claire’s closes all 154 stores in UK and Ireland with loss of 1,300 jobs
All of the chain’s standalone stores have stopped trading in the UK and Ireland.
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Business
Domino’s Pizza stock falls on disappointing sales — and CEO thinks more chains will follow
A pedestrian walks by a Domino’s Pizza on Dec. 9, 2025 in San Francisco, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Domino’s Pizza stock fell 10% in morning trading on Monday after it reported weaker-than-expected U.S. same-store sales growth.
The chain’s domestic same-store sales rose just 0.9%, lower than the 2.3% bump expected by Wall Street analysts, based on StreetAccount estimates.
“We’re not happy with it,” CEO Russell Weiner told CNBC.
The pizza chain also lowered its full-year U.S. same-store sales forecast to low-single digit growth, down from its prior projection that U.S. same-store sales will increase 3%.
Weiner said he expects more fast-food chains to report similar headwinds from winter weather and weak consumer sentiment, which took a dive in March due to spiking fuel prices caused by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
“One of the bad things about reporting first is you don’t get to hear about anybody else,” Weiner said.
Domino’s kicked off the earnings season for restaurant chains. Starbucks is on deck after the bell on Tuesday, and Chipotle Mexican Grill and Pizza Hut owner Yum Brands are expected to share their results on Wednesday. Rival Papa John’s will report its earnings next Thursday.
During the quarter, Domino’s also faced stiffer competition from rival pizza chains. Papa John’s and Pizza Hut both matched Domino’s $9.99 “Best Deal Ever” with promotions at the same price point. And Little Caesars undercut Domino’s $6.99 Mix & Match deal with a $5.99 version.
“People are seeing what we’re doing, and they’re sick of losing share, and they’re coming at it,” Weiner said, adding that he still expects Papa John’s and Pizza Hut to report same-store sales declines for the quarter despite the new promotions.
Looking ahead, Weiner expressed confidence that Domino’s will prove itself in the long run.
“Domino’s has got a bigger advertising budget than our second two competitors combined,” he said. “And those competitors are both going up for sale, so we know things aren’t good there right now.”
Yum announced in November that it was exploring strategic options for Pizza Hut, which could include a sale. And Papa John’s is reportedly in talks with Qatari-backed Irth Capital to go private. Both chains have also announced plans to close hundreds of restaurants this year, which could further boost Domino’s dominant position in the pizza category.
And if either Pizza Hut or Papa John’s goes private, Weiner said he expects that a new owner would shutter even more locations — a win for Domino’s.
Shares of Domino’s have lost nearly a third of their value over the last year. The company’s market cap has fallen to roughly $11.2 billion.
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