The return of a bull market, embodied by the Charging Bull sculpture in New York, was one of 2025's surprising twists for investors.MAry Altaffer/The Associated Press
Things often don’t go according to plan with our investments. That can be frustrating, especially in the near term, when a surprise can create financial stress or pain.
But if you’re adequately diversified, take a long-term approach or enter a trade knowing the risks, these unexpected moments can offer valuable reminders of why investing can be challenging.
And when they work in your favour? Then investing can be fun.
It was hard to lose money this year, given that every major asset class gained ground. Stocks? Check. Bonds? Check. Precious metals? Check.
But 2025 was no snooze fest, with a number of head-spinning surprises that kept us on our toes.
Here are five big ones.
The bull market returned.
When U.S. President Donald Trump introduced sweeping tariffs in early April against friends, foes and countries you couldn’t find on a map, markets were forced to adapt.
While the consensus opinion at the start of the year may have been that a full inversion of global trade wasn’t possible, by mid-April the consensus had shifted to something like “uh-oh.”
The S&P 500 slid into bear-market territory, defined as a decline of 20 per cent or more from its peak, while surging Treasury yields warned of inflation.
The big surprise? The S&P 500 was hitting new highs by June and was up more than 40 per cent from its April lows by October.
Gold exploded.
The price of the shiny metal has gained more than 60 per cent this year, which puts it on track for its best annual performance since 1979.
There were sound reasons, including wars, economic uncertainty, rising government debt levels, declining interest rates and large-scale purchases by some central banks.
But if gold is often embraced by investors as a haven investment – the sort of thing you can count on to hold its value when the world is falling apart – then its rally this year comes as a bit of a head-scratcher.
If the bull market in stocks is any indication, the world is not falling apart.
The Canadian labour market did okay.
It looked bleak near the start of the year, when Mr. Trump imposed debilitating tariffs on Canadian imports and then singled out steel, aluminum, lumber and automobiles.
But the Canadian economy is “proving resilient overall,” Tiff Macklem, the Bank of Canada Governor, said last week after holding interest rates steady.
The country’s labour market says as much. The unemployment rate, at 6.5 per cent in November, has been falling over the past three months.
But the real shocker is that while the number of unemployed Canadians is down this year, the number of unemployed Americans is up. That may be “one of the biggest economic surprises of the year,” according to economists at BMO Nesbitt Burns.
Canadian stocks outperformed U.S. stocks.
Keeping with the national pride theme, the S&P/TSX Composite Index has gained 27.5 per cent as of Monday’s close.
That’s 11.5 percentage points ahead of the S&P 500 over the same period and a sure sign of confidence in the home team.
Sure, the Canadian benchmark benefited immensely from the gold rally, which pushed up the share price of Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd., Canada’s largest gold company, by more than 100 per cent.
But the index fired on most cylinders. Banks rallied. So did retailers such as Dollarama Inc. and Aritzia Inc. And so did tech companies such as Shopify Inc. and Celestica Inc.
It’s been a tough year. Surprisingly, Canadian stocks sailed through it.
Renewables renewed.
Remember when Mr. Trump began his second term in January and immediately slashed U.S. incentives for renewable energy projects and embraced fossil fuels?
Well, the stock market thumbed its nose at this 180-degree turn: The iShares Global Clean Energy ETF, an exchange-traded fund that serves as a proxy for wind and solar energy stocks, gained more than 38 per cent this year.
That’s more than three times the gain for the S&P 500 and suggests that renewables may be immune to U.S. political interference as the rest of the world turns to cleaner energy sources.
What surprised you this year? Let me know at dberman@globeandmail.com.
Chart of the day
How often should investors rebalance dividend-focused portfolios?
Today’s financial tool
The BlackRock Asset Return Map tracks major asset class performance – such as U.S. stocks, government bonds, commodities and cash – going back 10 years. The latest update shows 2025 performance as of November. The interactive map (really more of a chart) provides a good snapshot of what’s working, or not, and can underscore the importance of diversification.