What the Market's Google Searches Reveal About 2025's Top Buys

The dominant market narrative of 2025 was clear: investors poured record amounts of capital into exchange-traded funds. Through early December, U.S.-listed ETFs added over $1.3 trillion in inflows, already surpassing 2024's record with four weeks to go. The final quarter cemented the trend, delivering a record quarterly inflow of $341 billion. This wasn't a trickle; it was a flood, nearly double the average quarterly flow since 2020.

What drove this massive capital shift? Three powerful themes converged. First, the AI boom and market breadth captured global imagination, with tech surges in Asia and beyond broadening the trade beyond U.S. megacaps. Second, a weaker U.S. dollar provided a major tailwind for international stocks, as the dollar index fell roughly 9.4% for its worst year since 2017. This made foreign equities more valuable when converted back into dollars. Third, persistent tariff and policy uncertainty created a volatile backdrop, yet investors kept flowing into ETFs, seeking diversification and a way to navigate the choppy waters. In a year of record ETF inflows, the market's search for safety and global opportunity was never more evident.

Mapping the Search Volume to the Winners

The market's search volume in 2025 wasn't just tracking news-it was directly pointing to where the capital flowed. The AI boom, a viral sentiment that dominated headlines, fueled surges in Asian tech and chipmaker demand, directly benefiting international equity funds. When investors Googled "AI stocks," they weren't just looking at U.S. names; they were hunting for the global beneficiaries. This played out in the numbers: South Korea's benchmark Kospi index soared almost 76%, and Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 26%, lifted by tech and chipmakers.

The search for AI's next frontier was a clear catalyst for global funds.

At the same time, the 9.4% decline in the U.S. dollar index made foreign currencies more valuable, a key tailwind that searchers likely didn't need to calculate. When the dollar weakens, investments denominated in other currencies become more valuable when converted back into dollars. This dynamic was a major reason why a major index tracking stocks outside the U.S. gained 29.2% in 2025, handily outpacing the S&P 500. The search for returns in a weaker dollar environment was a powerful, if less flashy, headline that drove flows into global funds.

Yet, despite high U.S. valuations, the 'Magnificent Seven' mega-caps powered returns for large-asset funds. The search for safety and proven winners kept capital anchored in the U.S. giants. Continued strength in stocks like Alphabet and Nvidia helped large-asset-base funds do quite well, even as the broader market narrative shifted. These mega-caps were the main character in the U.S. story, providing a steady engine for performance that kept investors in large-cap funds from fleeing entirely. The bottom line is that search volume and capital flows aligned with three clear themes: the global AI trade, a weaker dollar, and the enduring power of the U.S. mega-caps.

The Retail Investor's Role: Buying the Dip

The market's climb to all-time highs wasn't just driven by institutional flows; a new breed of retail investor provided a steady, tactical base of capital. These individual traders successfully bought the dip early in the year, a strategy that ranked as the second-best year since at least the early 1990s for this approach. Their timing was impeccable, particularly during the tariff-induced turbulence in April. When President Trump's "liberation day" tariffs sent the S&P 500 into bear market territory, retail investors jumped in. They bought a record of more than $3 billion in equities on net on April 3, even as the benchmark fell around 5%. This conviction, fueled by the "TACO trade" (Trump Always Chickens Out), meant they were on the ground floor of the subsequent rally.

This group's success wasn't a one-off. Their performance data shows they were more right than wrong. According to JPMorgan, their single-stock portfolios recorded stronger profit-to-loss ratios than baskets tied to artificial intelligence and software. In other words, their disciplined, dip-buying strategy outperformed even the hottest tech sectors. This hardened participation provided a crucial floor for the market, preventing deeper, more panicked sell-offs.

From May onward, this cohort's focus shifted, amplifying the broader ETF trend. They moved from single stocks to exchange-traded funds, a tactical pivot that gave the momentum a powerful new channel. The data shows they particularly dove into the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) fund, where 2025 inflows topped the last five years combined. This wasn't just about gold; it was about using the ETF structure to gain efficient, diversified exposure to a major market theme. The result was a virtuous cycle: their ETF holdings had substantially higher profit rates than the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), proving their savvy allocation.

The bottom line is that retail investors evolved from being seen as latecomers to becoming a key, data-driven force. Their early dip-buying provided a tactical edge, while their later shift to ETFs helped fuel the record inflow wave. In a year of record ETF flows, their hardened, sophisticated approach was a steady base of capital supporting the market's climb.

Catalysts and Risks: What to Watch in 2026

The record-setting trends of 2025 set a high bar for 2026. The main risk is a market downturn that tests whether the elevated retail participation and ETF flows can persist. That hardened retail base, which successfully bought the dip in April and later shifted to ETFs, provided a crucial floor. But a deeper or prolonged sell-off could challenge their conviction and the momentum of those flows. The market's search for safety and proven winners may shift, and the stability of this new breed of retail investor is a key variable to watch.

On the supportive side, watch for shifts in Fed policy and inflation expectations. These remain a foundational backdrop for risk assets. The market has shown remarkable composure, with anchored inflation expectations and a clear view of a Fed easing bias. This environment has helped sustain the AI boom and broad market breadth. Any significant deviation from that supportive narrative, perhaps due to a change in the Fed's stance or a spike in inflation, would be a major catalyst for volatility.

Finally, monitor if tariff policy clarity or a stronger dollar reverses the tailwinds that benefited international and commodity ETFs. The 9.4% decline in the U.S. dollar index was a major tailwind for global stocks, and the search for returns outside the U.S. was a clear theme. If the dollar stabilizes or strengthens, that advantage shrinks. Similarly, the resolution of tariff uncertainty could remove a persistent source of volatility, but it might also deflate the "trade policy clarity plus Fed easing" remedy that helped markets navigate the year. The bottom line is that 2026's trend will depend on whether these supportive catalysts hold or if new risks emerge to disrupt the flow.