Category: 3. Business

Stocks Hover Near Record, Silver Turns Volatile: Markets Wrap

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December 29, 2025 – 07:54

(Bloomberg) — Global stocks held gains from a record-breaking run fueled by artificial intelligence that’s helped markets rebound from an April slump sparked by tariff concerns. Volatility gripped precious metals such as silver, which climbed to another all-time high.

The MSCI All Country World Index — one of the broadest measures of the equity market — was steady after rising 1.4% last week to a new high as a much-expected year-end rally took hold. A gauge of Asian shares advanced 0.3% in a seventh straight day of gains, boosted by tech and industrials. European futures rose 0.3% while contracts on the S&P 500 edged lower after the US benchmark finished near its peak on Friday.

Silver gyrated after smashing through $80 an ounce for the first time amid a historic surge powered by speculative trades and a persistent mismatch between supply and demand. Gold was down more than 1% after reaching a fresh high in the previous session, while copper jumped more than 6% to hit a record on the London Metal Exchange.

Precious metals have emerged as a hot corner of financial markets in recent months, boosted by elevated central-bank purchases, inflows to exchange-traded funds and three successive rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Lower borrowing costs are a tailwind for the commodities, which don’t pay interest, and traders are betting on more rate cuts in 2026.

“We are witnessing a generational bubble playing out in silver,” Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG Australia, wrote in a note Sunday. “Relentless industrial demand from solar panels, EVs, AI data centers and electronics, pushing against depleting inventories, has driven physical premiums to extremes.”

Monday’s early momentum for precious metals had come after a comment by Elon Musk over the weekend that highlighted the growing investor frenzy around them. Musk replied to a tweet on Chinese export restrictions by saying on X: “This is not good. Silver is needed in many industrial processes.”

In the last week, frictions in Venezuela — where the US has blockaded oil tankers — and strikes by Washington on Islamic State in Nigeria have also added to the haven appeal of these metals. With silver inventories near their lowest on record, there’s a risk of supply shortages that could impact multiple sectors.

What Bloomberg strategists say…

“Silver has particular drivers which mean it is understandable for it to be outperforming the general rally in metals, precious and otherwise, against the US dollar. Nevertheless it is very tough to justify the parabolic ramp-up in silver as it leaves peers behind.”

Garfield Reynolds, Markets Live Strategist. For full analysis, click here.

In geopolitical news, President Donald Trump said he made “a lot of progress” in talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over a possible peace deal, but that it might take a few weeks to get it done and there’s no set timeline.

Oil rose as the US-led talks failed to yield a breakthrough, and as China vowed to support growth next year. It is still on track for a fifth monthly drop in December, which would be the longest losing streak in more than two years.

Elsewhere in markets, Bitcoin rallied more than 2% while a gauge of the dollar was steady.

The global equities gauge has risen nearly 22% in 2025, heading for a third straight annual gain and the biggest since 2019. Trends in AI as well as the path of the Fed’s interest rates are seen by investors as two of the most crucial factors that will determine how equities perform in 2026. The Fed is scheduled to release minutes from its December policy meeting later this week.

“Stocks can continue their party into 2026 because rate cuts are coming, global growth is robust, and the worst of the tariff threats seem to be already in the price,” said Nirgunan Tiruchelvam, an analyst at Aletheia Capital.

Stocks

S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 6:50 a.m. London time Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.2% Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.3% The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.5% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.5% The Shanghai Composite was little changed Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.3% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1764 The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 156.26 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.0043 per dollar The British pound was little changed at $1.3494 Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin rose 2.6% to $89,775.64 Ether rose 3.3% to $3,032.46 Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.13% Germany’s 10-year yield was unchanged at 2.86% Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 4.51% Australia’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 4.76% Commodities

Spot gold fell 1.1% to $4,483.53 an ounce West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1% to $57.32 a barrel This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Carmeli Argana, Rita Nazareth, Ruth Carson and Abhishek Vishnoi.

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

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December 29, 2025
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December 29, 2025
The Concorde spy who sold secrets to Russia

Mr Doyle was not the only person to potentially sell inside secrets on the development of Concorde.

In 1999, it was revealed a spy codenamed “Agent Ace” had also betrayed Britain.

The agent was an aeronautical engineer recruited in 1967, according to papers smuggled out of Russia by dissident KGB officer Vasili Mitrokhin.

It is thought Ace handed over more than 90,000 pages of detailed technical specifications.

The agent was one of more than a dozen spies operating within Britain and passing commercial and technological secrets to the Russians at the height of the Cold War, the papers revealed.

The secrets that made it out of Filton helped Russia build the Tupolev-144, nicknamed Concordski, and which was strikingly similar to Concorde.

It remains unclear whether Mr Doyle did, in fact, pass on the details he claimed to have done in the interview to the KGB or any other secrets about the Concorde programme.

For one, questions marks remain over why Mr Doyle was never prosecuted – despite admitting spying for Russia.

UK Parliament records seen by the BBC raised that very question on the 18 October 1971.

The Attorney General at the time said he had been consulted about the possibility of a prosecution under the Official Secrets Act, but a prosecution would be unlikely to succeed, based on the evidence, and criminal proceedings should not be started.

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December 29, 2025
Gift cards surge boosts retail spending despite Black Friday competition

A surge in gift cards and vouchers is driving more customers into stores on Boxing Day, helping what has traditionally been one of the biggest sales for retailers compete with the increasing popularity of newer promotional events like the Black Friday and Cyber Monday juggernauts.

Gerry Harvey, the executive chairman of electronics and whitegoods giant Harvey Norman, said gift cards and vouchers now accounted for about one-fifth of all transactions, particularly on the other side of Christmas.

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December 29, 2025
China signals tolerance for stronger renminbi

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China has fixed the renminbi at its strongest level against the dollar in 15 months, a move that analysts say signals its tolerance of a gradual appreciation as its soaring exports stoke tensions with trading partners.

The People’s Bank of China on Monday set the renminbi at 7.03 to the dollar, the strongest fix since September 30 2024. The currency has strengthened by almost 4 per cent this year against the greenback but has weakened against the euro and other currencies.

The relative weakness of the Chinese currency has been a bugbear for American and European leaders, who see it as unfairly advantaging their exporters and contributing to China’s enormous trade surplus.

“It’s clear we’re seeing an acceleration in renminbi strength to the end of year,” said Mansoor Mohi-uddin, chief economist at Bank of Singapore. “They’re clearly allowing the currency to rise but in a controlled way.”

Prior to a trade truce agreed in October, US tariffs on Chinese goods were at one stage as high as 145 per cent. “Now as the tariff situation becomes a lot clearer and less troublesome, you see the currency begin the rebound,” said Mohi-uddin.

The renminbi spot rate, which can fluctuate 2 per cent either way around the PBoC midpoint fix, has strengthened in recent weeks.

The Chinese central bank, in a statement released last week in the wake of a Monetary Policy Committee meeting on December 18, pledged to “maintain the basic stability of the [renminbi] exchange rate at a reasonable and balanced level”.

Even as the central bank has allowed the currency to strengthen, “the PBoC is also becoming more resistant to gains in the [renminbi], especially as they approach 7 [per dollar], which is both a psychologically important level for the PBoC and for exporters,” said Mitul Kotecha, head of foreign exchange and emerging markets macro strategy at Barclays.

“Never gamble on a one-way appreciation” of the renminbi, the state-owned Shanghai Securities News said in an article published on Monday.

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Analysts doubted the PBoC would allow an appreciation that would undermine its export powerhouse economy, given its 5 per cent GDP growth target.

“The golden goose has been the exports trend, which has been the biggest contributor to growth this year,” said Kotecha.

He added that having a strong currency at a time when other drivers of growth, such as housing, are particularly weak will make it “tough for China to achieve its growth targets”.

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December 29, 2025
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