Panorama 360°: December

2025: Foolishness of tariffs shakes markets, but artificial intelligence propels them forward · 15 December 2025

The year 2025 will be remembered as the year in which two forces, US tariffs and artificial intelligence, shaped the course of financial markets. Despite a brutal political environment and destabilizing geopolitical situations, global growth demonstrated remarkable resilience. This solid foundation allowed corporate profits to rise and often exceed analysts’ expectations throughout the year. The first major event was «Liberation Day», when President Donald Trump announced a wave of tariffs on all of his trading partners. The markets, despite being warned by his campaign promises, were surprised by the scale of the announcements and plummeted in fear of a trade war of historic proportions. However, once the initial shock wore off, the tariffs turned out to be lower than expected, even for Switzerland, which had to wait a little longer. This positive surprise paved the way for a spectacular rebound in the stock markets, as most companies reorganized their supply chains and largely offset the tariff shock in one way or another. Overall, the US economy, after a first quarter weakened by anticipation of these measures, quickly regained momentum thanks to massive investments in all areas related to artificial intelligence. Because the other major story of 2025 is indeed that of AI. According to Barclays, investments in software, chips, and data centers contributed a significant one percentage point to the US gross domestic product in the first half of the year. At the same time, accelerated deregulation and the US administration’s enthusiasm for crypto assets have fueled a surprisingly robust stock market.   Lire la suite

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