Which stock index performed best in 2025? Take our year-end business and investing news quiz

d. More than 30 per cent. The index advanced 28 per cent, and after dividends and the total return was around 32 per cent. No, this level of return is not normal. But it was welcome.

c. The iShares Global Clean Energy Index. Surprise, surprise. In a year when U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to supercharge U.S. growth and lead a resurgence in fossil fuels, the best investing strategy was to bet on the opposite happening. In Canadian dollar terms, both the S&P/TSX (total return of about 32 per cent) and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index (27 per cent) outpaced the U.S.-based S&P 500 (13 per cent). None of these benchmarks, though, could match the sizzling performance of the MSCI Global Clean Energy Index. It rewarded investors with a total return of more than 37 per cent. (All figures to Dec. 26.)

d. All of the above. Isn’t the Canadian economy supposed to be in the doldrums? Try telling that to some of the year’s biggest winners. Gold miners such as Barrick shone. So did plane manufacturer Bombardier and fashion chain Groupe Dynamite.

b. Silver. Prices for all these metals soared in 2025, but silver topped the charts, jumping more than 140 per cent. Why? Worry about U.S. dollar debasement is one factor. So is growing appreciation for silver’s role in some technological applications. But, as always with precious metals, silver’s rise seems to be as much about vibes as hard facts.

Crude oil, the U.S. dollar and Bitcoin. Yep, all three. Crude oil (as measured by the price of West Texas Intermediate) fell about 20 per cent. The U.S. dollar (down about 10 per cent) and bitcoin (down about 6 per cent) also slid. But don’t mess with Tesla. Despite Elon Musk’s antics and a general move away from electric vehicles, the stock still managed to jump more than 20 per cent.

b. Explore participation in the Eurovision song contest. According to the budget, “The government… is working with CBC/Radio Canada to explore participation in Eurovision.” It’s not exactly clear what participating in the world’s cheesiest song competition might do for Canada, but it’s good to know our nation’s leadership is on top of the matter.

d. A transition to a Quebec currency. The PQ leader said that an independent Quebec would have its own currency. The province would move away from the Canadian dollar in a process that could take up to 10 years, he said.

c. Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. Mr. Trump imposed a 50 per cent tariff on goods from the collection of eight small islands off the southern coast of Newfoundland with a population of about 6,000 people. The President’s levy on the French overseas territory was among the most punitive of all those foisted on the world’s alleged trade offenders. One theory is that the White House was taken in by an April Fool’s Day spoof segment on French state TV, which reported that the French military had plans to build a weapons factory on the islands.

b. Lululemon founder Chip Wilson is launching a proxy fight to overhaul the board of the Vancouver-based athletic apparel company as it deals with mounting competitive pressure, a near-halving of its stock price and the impending departure of its chief executive.

a. The McCains. It has been 31 years since brothers Wallace and Harrison McCain fought for control of McCain Foods Ltd. Wallace’s daughter, Eleanor McCain, has now kicked off a showdown with her relatives by demanding they buy her out of one of the country’s largest privately owned companies.

a. DeepSeek stunned investors with its ability to create advanced AI models rivalling those developed by OpenAI and Google, but at a fraction of the cost.

d. Nvidia. In late October, the computer chip maker became the first publicly traded company to surpass a US$5-trillion market valuation. Its chips are essential for many AI applications and demand for them has expanded at a breakneck clip. However, Nvidia’s stock price has declined sharply since early November as fears of an AI bubble have grown.

c. Michael Burry has taken aim at Nvidia, the dominant maker of graphics processing units used to build and run AI models. He has also criticized the sky-high valuations of other tech superstars, including Tesla and Palantir Technologies.

c. "Trump Always Chickens Out" summed up Mr. Trump’s tendency to make big threats then back down later. We will see how TACO works in 2026, when USMCA is up for renewal.

a. Barrick Mining is considering an initial public offering of a minority interest in its North American mines. Shareholders in the company are eager for action after years of sluggish stock market performance.

c. Berkshire Hathaway. Talk about a tough act to follow. Mr. Abel, a graduate of the University of Alberta, is set to take over from Warren Buffett, arguably the greatest investor of all time.

b. Declined about three per cent. House prices fell 2.75 per cent from November, 2024 to November, 2025, according to the Teranet-National Bank House Price Index. However, regional variation was huge, with prices up more than 12 per cent in Quebec City and down more than 6 per cent in Toronto.

a. He won a pardon from U.S. President Donald Trump. Mr. Trump, an eager student of U.S. jurisprudence, pardoned the founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Mr. Zhao was at one time reckoned to be the wealthiest Canadian before serving prison time for failing to stop criminals from using his platform to move money connected to child sex abuse, drug trafficking and terrorism.

a. Its last triple-A credit rating. In May, Moody’s became the last of the major credit ratings agencies to downgrade the U.S., citing concerns about the country’s growing pile of debt. Washington is running massive deficits and already owes more than US$38-trillion.

Yep, all of them. The next few months could feature a cavalcade of initial public offerings, or IPOs, from big tech players, according to market watchers. If you think that tech enthusiasm was off the charts in 2025, brace for even more looniness in 2026.