Global markets begin turning the page on a record-setting year.

Plus, the AI boom lifted more than stock markets this year, Exhibit A, OpenAI, Employee Pay Packages.

And we'll hear from Journal Bureau Chiefs from around the world about what to watch for in

26.

For the coming year, we're what to watch for in 2026.

For the coming year, we're going to see China's push for peer equality to the United States.

They're actively working to re-engineer the global playing field.

It's Wednesday, December 31st. I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal, and this is

What's News in your feed once a day over the holidays with the top headlines and business

stories moving the world today.

That is the last opening bell of the year in New York.

The final trading session of 2025 finds U.S. stocks slightly lower, but still trading

near record highs, with the S&P 500 on pace for a roughly 17% annual gain.

It's an outcome that journal reporter David Huberti said looked far from certain

earlier this year. The big moment to bookend this year was the quote unquote liberation day

tariffs announced in April by President Trump. It really sparked market chaos, just the idea

of a new era of trade barriers, really reorienting the global economy away from

increased globalization. Markets tanked, investors in Wall Street and elsewhere sold off risky assets.

But since then, investors have come back to the market in a very big way. And that's in large part

because of this AI boom, investors have poured money into

U.S. tech stocks and that has really elevated markets to near record levels. Well, helping to drive

that boom is OpenAI, the maker of ChatchipT. According to financial data shown to investors,

...