YTD 2025 Market Performance Overview by ProjectSyndicate
1. YTD 2025 Market Performance Summary
Below is a snapshot of major asset class returns through 2025 YTD:
Performance Infographic YTD Returns (2025)
Precious Metals
Silver: +150%
Platinum: +147%
Palladium: +92%
Gold: +64%
Equity Markets
Nikkei: +27%
DAX: +22%
QQQ: +22%
Cryptocurrencies (Risk Assets)
Bitcoin (BTC): 4%
Ethereum (ETH): 10%
Insight: Classic safe havens precious metals vastly outperformed equities and digital assets through 2025, reflecting both macro uncertainty and the ongoing demand for real assets.
2. Key Investment Themes for 2025
A. Precious Metals Rally
Performance Drivers:
Elevated inflation expectations and rate cut prospects pushed investors into hard assets.
Silvers industrial demand (EVs, solar, electrification) amplified its gain vs. gold.
Platinum & palladium benefited from supply constraints and vehicle emissions tech demand.
Safe-haven demand lifted gold to multi-decade highs.
B. AI Technology Sector
While we dont have precise index returns in this report for AI technology stocks, broad AI adoption drove significant equity performance especially among semiconductor and AI platform leaders:
NVDA Nvidia continued leadership in AI compute.
AMD robust gains from data-center and AI client demand.
C. Biotechnology & Innovation
Biotech remains a structural growth sector due to:
Aging demographics and healthcare demand.
New drug modalities and AI-assisted discovery.
Continued regulatory approvals of new therapeutic classes.
Although