Market Minute ⏱️ 6/4/25: Swticheroo in Play as Global Stocks Hit Highs, US Lags

Mike Larson | Editor-in-Chief

Markets are relatively quiet so far, with stocks, gold, and crude oil all mostly flat. Treasuries are rallying modestly, though, while the dollar is dipping.

We have a switcheroo in major markets. Led by strong performance in non-US equities, the MSCI All-Country World Index just tagged 888.24 – topping its previous February peak of 887.72. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index is beating the S&P 500 by the widest margin on record. In the Americas, all major indices are outperforming the S&P 500 handily, with benchmark indices in Canada up 6.8%, Brazil up 14.3%, and Mexico up 16.4%.

ACWX vs. SPY (YTD % Change)

This chart shows the performance of the iShares MSCI ACWI ex US ETF (ACWX) compared to the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY). The former holds more than 1,700 non-US stocks, with the highest weighting in names like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM), Tencent Holdings Ltd. (TCEHY), and SAP SE (SAP). As you can see, ACWX has gained just under 15% so far in 2025, compared with only 1.7% for the SPY.

This is a big week for job market data – and today’s ADP number didn’t exactly excite Wall Street. The private payroll company said the US economy added just 37,000 jobs in May. That was down from 60,000 a month prior and FAR below the average forecast of 115,000. Official Labor Department numbers are due out Friday morning.

In other news, US-China trade disagreements keep festering. President Trump called Chinese President Xi Jinping “extremely hard to make a deal with” in a social media post overnight. Hoped-for talks between the two leaders still haven’t happened.

Meanwhile, China’s crackdown on exports of rare-earth metals is threatening manufacturers here in the US. Auto companies are particularly vulnerable, especially those who are titling more toward Electric Vehicle (EV) production. Those vehicles need rare-earth magnets to function and sourcing them from China has become much more difficult..

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