US stocks had a remarkable 2025. But international markets did much better

Source Domain: www.cnn.com

Here are six key points summarizing the article on market performance in 2025:

Global Markets Outperformed US Stocks: The MSCI All Country World ex-USA index outperformed the S&P 500, gaining 29.2% compared to the S&P 500’s 16.39%.
AI Boom Boosted Asian Markets: Artificial intelligence (AI) enthusiasm has driven significant gains in tech companies and chipmakers in Asia, leading to strong year-over-year earnings growth.
Defense Spending and Economic Recovery Helped Europe: European markets surged as a result of increased defense spending in Germany and improved economic outlooks in countries like Greece, Spain, and Poland.
Weaker US Dollar Favored International Stocks: A decline in the US dollar’s strength made stocks denominated in other currencies more valuable, contributing to the strong performance of international markets.
Strong Fundamentals in Emerging Markets: South Korea’s Kospi index posted its best performance since 1999, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Taiwan’s TSMC also saw substantial gains.
Investors Eye Future Dollar Trends: US investors remain optimistic about the long-term prospects of US stocks but are also keeping an eye on the dollar’s future movements to gauge international market returns.