Which Asset Classes Had the Best 2025?

Investors wondering which asset classes will outperform in 2026 might look back to 2025 for some guidance, since the trends that drove asset prices last year didn't end or reverse course on New Year's Eve.

Last year was definitely good for stocks, including U.S. equities. As measured by the S&P 500 index, which represents about 80% of the market capitalization of all U.S. public companies, the market climbed 16.4% last year. And that came after consecutive gains of more than 23% in 2023 and again in 2024. That's an impressive run, considering the long-term average annual gain for that index is less than 11%.

But U.S. stocks were not the best-performing asset class in 2025. International stocks from developed countries, as measured by the Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF (NYSEMKT: VEA), more than doubled the S&P 500 performance.

That ETF (exchange-traded fund), which tracks the performance of stocks in developed countries (excluding the U.S.), was up 35.2% in 2025. The fund is heavily concentrated in European, Japanese, and Canadian stocks.

Emerging-market stocks also had a banner year. As measured by the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEMKT: VWO), they rose 25.6% last year. The fund doesn't invest in all emerging markets (EMs). It's heavily weighted in companies from large middle-income EMs like China, Taiwan, Brazil, and India.

Metals had a banner year

Certain commodities also had huge years in 2025. I've been writing about three metals in particular -- gold, silver, and copper -- all of which outperformed most other assets last year and look poised to continue their runs in 2026.

Gold, a haven asset that investors flock to when they start to worry about either inflation or a recession, climbed almost 64% in 2025. That was due primarily to two factors: ongoing concerns about inflation and ongoing gold purchases by global central banks that began soon after Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022.

Copper, too, was hot in 2025. The metal climbed about 40% during the year, mostly due to demand in data centers, electric vehicles, and renewable energy technologies.

And silver outdid both of those two metals. Its price more than doubled, soaring 140% during the year. Two factors pushed it higher in 2025: It's a precious-metal hedge like gold, making it a haven asset; and it's an excellent conductor, like copper, so demand has increased rapidly.

Copper and silver prices have continued their rally into 2026, and the construction boom in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, which is ongoing, suggests there is plenty of upside for those metals. You can basically consider the two metals AI plays.

Source: Getty Images.

Some asset classes did poorly in 2025

So-called digital gold, or Bitcoin, unfortunately did not have a good 2025. The volatile cryptocurrency fell 7.6% last year. It climbed from early April through early October, only to crash after President Donald Trump threatened 100% tariffs on Chinese imports, a development that caused many investors to dump risky assets like crypto.

And black gold, or crude oil, also tumbled during the year. It fell about 8.5% in 2025 to nearly $61 for a barrel of Brent crude, which comes from the North Sea. That's half the price that it commanded in mid-2022.

Worse -- for energy companies and their shareholders -- the decline in oil prices looks likely to continue in 2026, since there is a growing oil glut on global markets. And if the Trump administration is able to make good on promises to start tapping Venezuela's vast proven oil reserves (the largest of any country), that glut will only worsen, sending prices lower still.

Matthew Benjamin has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.