Which Stocks Drove the Market’s Gains in 2025?
Morningstar••business
Key Points:
- The technology and communication-services sectors were the top performers in 2025, driven largely by the AI boom, with the Morningstar US Market Index rising 17.4% overall.
- Nvidia and Alphabet were the biggest individual contributors, together accounting for over a quarter of the market's gains, with Nvidia adding 6.0 points and Alphabet nearly 28.0 points to their respective sector indexes.
- Semiconductor companies, particularly those supporting AI computing like Nvidia and Broadcom, led the tech sector's 21.4% gain, while software infrastructure firms such as Microsoft and Palantir also made significant contributions.
- In contrast, consumer defensive stocks (including Walmart and Costco) and real estate stocks underperformed, with gains of only
