The foreign markets soaring to record highs in 2025

00:00 Jared Blikre

The itinerary for global markets this year had been busy, but the S&P 500 has barely left the gate up a modest 2%. Meanwhile, several single-stock ETFs have already gone long haul, uh chalking up 30 and even 40 plus percent gains. And today, we’re going to be we’re going to see who’s been filling up their passports with the juiciest returns. I’m Jared Blikre, host of Stocks in Translation. So let’s take a look at the country leaderboard. Greece and Poland are at the top of our list. Each of these European countries are clocking in returns in the mid 40s. Austria and Spain are right behind at 40% each, with Italy in the mid 30s. Continuing down the list, Germany is right behind Italy with a 33% surge. Meanwhile, the UAE, Israel, and Japan are each posting respectable low double-digit gains this year. And in case you’re wondering, these ETFs are all priced in US dollars, so these gains are also benefiting from the broad-based weakness in the US dollar this year. Another note, this list is not meant to be exhausted. Now, let’s flip through some of the charts here. First, the record relay, as I’m calling it. Germany tagged a fresh record high last Thursday, followed Friday by Israel. And that’s after Japan notched its own record earlier in the week. It’s almost like global momentum is passing the baton. Now for the Mediterranean makeover, check out Greece. Like a Phoenix rising from the from the global financial crisis, as ashes, excuse me, Athens is back on investors’ radar, flaunting the highest price in nearly a decade, though still down 25% from its 20 2014 high. And say hello to the periphery club. Med is back, with Spain and Italy joining the Greek resurgence. All three of these indices are up five 50% over the last two years. Shifting north, Poland and Austria are leading a Central European surge, with Poland up over 50% in the last two years and Austria just short of that. And don’t forget about the United Arab Emirates to the east, just a hair from a fresh decade long high, as it’s returning 25% plus over two years. Finally, let’s take a look and zoom in on Austria’s long awaited breakout, nearly two decades in the making. After the roller coaster ride along the global financial crisis, the country traded sideways for 17 years, finally breaking out of a trading range only a month ago. Bottom line for investors, yes, these returns are impressive, but is US exceptionalism really a thing of the past? Have the volatile tariff experiments, have those upped the uncertainty vibe too high? Or did the post liberation day market plunge clear the deck for the next US-led surge? If so, the last month of consolidation near near record highs in the S&P, that might just look like a layover by year end. And if not, we could just see some more sideways action that frustrates both the bulls and the bears. Only time is going to tell, but you cannot deny the bullish price action breaking out around the world this year. And tune into Stocks and Translation for more market decoding deep dives, new episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays on Yahoo Finance’s website, or wherever you find your podcast.