Best-Performing Areas in a Blockbuster Year for Stocks

2025 has been a blockbuster but volatile year for financial markets, shaped by multiple crosscurrents: sustained enthusiasm around artificial intelligence, tempered by growing bubble concerns; escalating trade disputes; and rising geopolitical tensions.

The S&P 500 is up 19% year to date, the Dow Jones has gained 16%, while the Nasdaq-100 has jumped 23%. Technology and Communication Services are once again the best performing sectors, with gains of 26% and 22%, driven mainly by impressive advances in the shares of NVIDIA  NVDA and Alphabet GOOG.

Gold and silver have posted exceptional gains this year. The SPDR Gold Shares GLD and the iShares Silver Trust SLV have surged 72% and 158%, respectively. Precious-metals mining ETFs rank among the year’s top-performing investment products, as higher metal prices translated into stronger profitability.

Critical materials such as uranium, lithium, copper, nickel, manganese, cobalt, graphite, and rare earth elements have also seen sharp increases in both prices and demand. Demand continues to rise as these materials are essential inputs for electric vehicles, batteries, electronics, data centers, and defense systems.

Around the world, rising geopolitical tensions are fueling a boom in defense spending, as countries move to upgrade their capabilities with AI, autonomous drones, and advanced cyber defenses. European defense stocks have surged in 2025 as many countries ramp up military budgets, partly in response to pressure from Trump.

Please watch the short video above to learn more about the top performing ETFs.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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