How stocks, bonds and other markets have fared so far in 2025

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How stocks, bonds and other markets have fared so far in 2025

2025-04-22 05:24 Last Updated At：05:31

NEW YORK (AP) — Global financial markets have been turned upside down this year by President Donald Trump's burgeoning trade war. Markets are not in full panic, but the double-digit declines in major U.S. stock indexes are testing nerves.

U.S. markets had been on a two-year tear coming into 2025, though many believed that stock prices had become overinflated. Trump's trade war pushed that sentiment into hyperdrive. The S&P 500 has tumbled more than 12%, and U.S. markets are being outpaced in Europe, Asia, and just about everywhere else.

Trading in traditional “safe havens” like U.S. Treasurys and the dollar has become erratic and unpredictable. On Monday, the dollar struck a three-year low and U.S. Treasury yields have been soaring. Typically, yields would fall as investors seek a safe place to park their money. U.S. Treasurys no longer appear to provide the shelter they once did.

Only gold, a commodity traded internationally, has maintained its reputation as a safe zone. The price of gold is hitting one record high after another.

Here's a roundup of what is happening in various segments of the financial market:

U.S. stocks have been losing ground in a sharp reversal after two years of stellar gains.

The S&P 500 index, which is considered a benchmark for the broader market’s health, is down 12.3% in 2025. It gained more than 20% in both 2023 and 2024.

The benchmark index is already in “correction,” having fallen more than 10% from the record it set in February. There have been only five weeks in which it's ended in positive territory this year and with Monday's decline it's moving closer to bear market territory, or a 20% drop from recent highs.

It's worse on the growth-focused Nasdaq composite, which has plunged nearly 18 %.

Overseas markets have largely performed much better than their U.S. counterparts.

Treasurys, typically considered a less risky area of the market, have been volatile throughout the year.

The 10-year Treasury, which influences mortgage rates and other loans, was as high as 4.80% in January but then fell until Trump announced the broad details of his tariff policy in early April. Yields then began to spike this month. The recent jump in bond yields, which happens when bond prices fall, reflects rising anxiety about inflation and a potential recession.

Treasury bonds are essentially IOUs from the U.S. government and they’re how Washington pays its bills. Bond prices typically move in the opposite direction of stock prices, but prices for both have fallen in tandem. That raises more significant concerns, namely a loss of faith in the U.S. as a safe place to invest.

In all of the economic uncertainty, gold is soaring — setting record after record in 2025.

New York spot gold hit another all-time high Thursday, closing at about $3,343 per Troy ounce — the standard for measuring precious metals — per FactSet. The price is up nearly 27% this year.

Gold futures rose to more than $3,432 Monday.

Interest in gold spikes in times of uncertainty as investors seek a safe place for their money, although there can still be some volatility. The price of spot gold fell for three straight trading days following Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” announcement on April 2, for example, but soon rebounded overall.

The U.S. dollar, the world’s reserve currency, is falling under the weight of uncertainty over tariffs, inflation and the direction of the U.S. economy.

The U.S. dollar is down a steep 9% for the year when measured against a basket of other currencies, including the euro, Japanese yen, Canadian Dollar and Swiss franc.

The dollar began to erode almost immediately in 2025, but those losses have accelerated over the past two months. A weakened dollar means it is more difficult for the U.S. government, businesses and consumers to borrow money at lower rates. It also means less purchasing power for U.S. consumers and the potential for stunted economic growth.

There is good news and bad news about energy prices. The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. on Monday was $3.15, down sharply from $3.67 at this time last year. That's the good news.

The bad news is that energy prices fall when people start anticipating an economic slowdown. Factories produce less, families call off vacations and businesses cut travel expenses.

Oil prices hit a four-year low this month with anxiety over the impact of tariffs on global economic growth sinking in.

West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, stood at around $62.40 per barrel Monday. That’s down nearly 14% year to date. And Brent crude, the European standard, was just above $66 — down nearly 13% since the start of 2025.

Economists are warning that the steep tariffs Trump is pursuing could cause a recession, which could carry significant implications for the supply chain and jobs in the energy sector.

Bitcoin has continued to undulate.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency has been on a rollercoaster since the start of the year — with the volatile asset climbing to more than $109,000 ahead of Trump’s inauguration in January, only to dip under $75,000 amid wider market sell-offs this month. As of midday Monday, bitcoin’s going price was above $87,000, per CoinMarketCap.

That’s more than $6,000 lower than what bitcoin was trading at the start of 2025 — but still significantly higher than in recent years. At this time last year, bitcoin traded around $65,000. And in April 2023, months after the November 2022 collapse of FTX crushed crypto, the digital asset went for under $30,000.

Trump, once a crypto skeptic, became a major promoter of the industry throughout his campaign — and last month, he signed an executive order establishing a government reserve of bitcoin.

Anti-ICE protesters assemble across the US after shootings in Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Thousands of people marched in Minneapolis Saturday to protest the fatal shooting of a woman by a federal immigration officer there and the shooting of two protesters in Portland, Oregon, as Minnesota leaders urged demonstrators to remain peaceful.

The Minneapolis gathering was one of hundreds of protests planned in towns and cities across the country over the weekend. It came in a city on edge since the killing of Renee Good on Wednesday by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.

“We’re all living in fear right now,” said Meghan Moore, a mother of two from Minneapolis who joined the protest Saturday. “ICE is creating an environment where nobody feels safe and that’s unacceptable.”

On Friday night, a protest outside a Minneapolis hotel that attracted about 1,000 people turned violent as demonstrators threw ice, snow and rocks at officers, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Saturday. One officer suffered minor injuries after being struck with a piece of ice, O’Hara said. Twenty-nine people were cited and released, he said.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stressed that while most protests have been peaceful, those who cause damage to property or put others in danger will be arrested. He faulted “agitators that are trying to rile up large crowds.”

“This is what Donald Trump wants,” Frey said of the president who has demanded massive immigration enforcement efforts in several U.S. cities. “He wants us to take the bait.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz echoed the call for peace.

“Trump sent thousands of armed federal officers into our state, and it took just one day for them to kill someone,” Walz posted on social media. “Now he wants nothing more than to see chaos distract from that horrific action. Don’t give him what he wants.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says its deployment of immigration officers in the Twin Cities is its biggest ever immigration enforcement operation. Trump's administration has said both shootings were acts of self-defense against drivers who “weaponized” their vehicles to attack officers.

Connor Maloney said he was attending the Minneapolis protest to support his community and because he's frustrated with the immigration crackdown.

“Almost daily I see them harassing people,” he said. “It’s just sickening that it’s happening in our community around us.”

Steven Eubanks, 51, said he felt compelled to attend a protest in Durham, North Carolina, on Saturday because of the “horrifying” killing of Good in Minneapolis.

“We can’t allow it,” Eubanks said. “We have to stand up.”

Indivisible, a social movement organization that formed to resist the Trump administration, said hundreds of protests were scheduled in Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Florida and other states.

In Minneapolis, a coalition of migrant rights groups organized the demonstration that began in a park about half a mile from the residential neighborhood where the 37-year-old Good was shot on Wednesday. Marchers carried signs calling for ICE to leave and voiced support for Good and immigrants.

A couple of miles away, just as the demonstration began, an Associated Press photographer witnessed heavily armed officers — at least one in Border Patrol uniform — approach a person who had been following them. Two of the agents had long guns out when they ordered the person to stop following them, telling him it was his “first and final warning.”

The agents eventually drove onto the interstate without detaining the driver.

Protests held in the neighborhood have been largely peaceful, in contrast to the violence that hit Minneapolis in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Near the airport, some confrontations erupted on Thursday and Friday between smaller groups of protesters and officers guarding the federal building used as a base for the Twin Cities crackdown.

O’Hara said city police officers have responded to calls about cars abandoned because their drivers have been apprehended by immigration enforcement. In one case, the car was left in park and in another case a dog was left in the vehicle.

He said immigration enforcement activities are happening “all over the city” and that 911 callers have been alerting authorities to ICE activity, arrests and abandoned vehicles.

The Trump administration has deployed thousands of federal officers to Minnesota under a sweeping new crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. More than 2,000 officers were taking part.

Some officers moved in after abruptly pulling out of Louisiana, where they were part of another operation that started last month and was expected to last until February.

Three congresswomen from Minnesota attempted to tour the ICE facility in the Minneapolis federal building on Saturday morning and were initially allowed to enter but then told they had to leave about 10 minutes later.

U.S, Reps. Ilhan Omar, Kelly Morrison and Angie Craig accused ICE agents of obstructing members of Congress from fulfilling their duty to oversee operations there.

“They do not care that they are violating federal law,” Craig said after being turned away.

A federal judge last month temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing policies that limit congressional visits to immigration facilities. The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by 12 members of Congress who sued in Washington, D.C. to challenge ICE’s amended visitor policies after they were denied entry to detention facilities.

Associated Press writers Allen Breed in Durham, North Carolina, and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed.