Silver climbed to a record $75 per ounce in early Friday trading, extending its 2025 gain to 158% amid heavy vault inflows and concerns over potential US trade curbs. Gold moved closer to its $4,525 per ounce peak as investors sought safety, while US pressure on Venezuela's oil sector and President Donald Trump's announced strike on a terrorist group in Nigeria rattled broader markets.

Tsinghua University in northwest Beijing has emerged as a core hub for China’s AI strategy, with government backing, homegrown chips, and startups like DeepSeek founded by its alumni. Between 2005 and the end of 2024, the university filed 4,986 AI and machine learning patents, while students developed models that reportedly rivaled larger systems from US labs. China has expanded AI education from elementary school onward and dramatically increased its share of the world’s top AI researchers, even as US institutions still lead in the most influential patents and top-performing models.

China's Guangzhou Futures Exchange will from December 29 restrict non-futures firms to opening 300 lots per day in designated platinum and palladium contracts and raise the minimum opening size to two lots. The move comes after platinum surged to $2,377.50 and palladium jumped more than 85% this year, while Shanghai silver spiked to $80 per ounce and China's main silver fund hit its 10% daily limit down.

On Dec. 25, 2025, World Liberty Financial said on X that its USD1 stablecoin's market capitalization exceeded $3 billion. Binance launched a USD1 Booster Program offering up to 20% APR and began a 1:1 swap of B-Token BUSD collateral into USD1, while a BTC/USD1 spot pair flash crash briefly printed $24,000 before spiking above $87,000.

In the U.S. economy, large-cap firms such as Amazon and Nvidia are reporting billions in profits and fresh stock highs, while many small businesses are cutting staff and hours. Recent data show companies with fewer than 50 workers have shed 120,000 jobs in November, even as S&P 500 companies recorded a 12.9% rise in net income in the third quarter of 2025. Owners across retail, restaurants, and promotional goods say tariffs, inflation, and weaker demand are squeezing margins and forcing painful staffing decisions.

By late 2025, investors began to separate AI companies that generate strong cash flows from those pouring capital into infrastructure with uncertain returns. Asset-heavy spending by Big Tech on data centers and GPUs contrasts with suppliers like Nvidia and Broadcom that collect the revenue. Market strategists warn that high valuations, debt-funded AI build-outs, and unproven startups could tighten profit margins and force sharper differentiation among AI players.

On Thursday, China's yuan moved through the ¥7-per-dollar mark for the first time since September 2024, with offshore trading at 6.9964 and the onshore rate closing at 7.0067. The currency has risen more than 3.8% this year alongside a stronger central bank fixing, while developer China Vanke faces renewed pressure as holders of a 3.7 billion yuan bond vote on repayment delay options. Analysts say the yuan remains weak relative to fundamentals, and Vanke continues to manage about $50 billion in interest-bearing debt as it negotiates with creditors.

Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae said Japan will set a ¥122.3 trillion budget for the fiscal year starting April 2026, up 6.3% from FY2025's ¥115.2 trillion. She plans to issue ¥29.6 trillion in new bonds, trimming debt reliance to 24.2% from 24.9%, while allocations rise for social security and defense amid persistent inflation.

In August, the EU pledged to President Donald Trump that it would spend $750 billion on U.S. energy over three years, yet from September to December its oil and gas purchases from the U.S. actually fell 7% by value to $29.6 billion. For all of 2025 so far, U.S. energy imports total $73.7 billion, far below what would be needed annually to reach the 2028 goal, and analysts argue that only extreme price increases and large-scale infrastructure expansion on both sides could make the target achievable. While the European Commission cites €200 billion in energy-related imports over the first 11 months of 2025 and rising LNG volumes, experts and former officials question whether the agreement was ever a realistic commercial commitment rather than a political maneuver.