Weidong Li's random walk in the investment world

                       -What year 2025 holds for equity investors…

For global equity investors, few years have been better than 2024. Fueled by enthusiasm around artificial intelligence and the triumph over inflation control, stock markets in the developed world posted one of their greatest payoffs in history. The S&P 500 has risen more than 25% in 12 months, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ delivered a whopping 27% in 2024, with awe-inspiring companies such as Nvidia and Tesla leading the charge. After the U.S. election in early November, the equity market received yet another injection of optimism from Trump’s victory, anticipating a business-friendly, deregulated investment environment down the road. By the end of the year, the euphoria had also spilled over to other non-traditional asset classes such as cryptocurrencies. Looking at the broader economy—where the unemployment rate is low, productivity is high, energy costs are dropping, and property prices are recovering—one can only conclude that Santa is indeed coming to town this Christmas, and with only two more weeks to go, it is tempting to expecting 2025 in the same roze view.