The Factor Report

Market Wrap

For the week ended December 19th, 2025, stocks were mixed, but ultimately about flat globally. Bonds were slightly higher for the week as the iShares Core US Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG) rose 0.03% with yields falling; the 10-year US treasury yield dropped to 4.15%, according to Yahoo Finance. Asset price drivers of the week:

• There wasn't much going on on Monday as investors took a wait-and-see approach to Tuesday's key release of delayed jobs reports from October and November.
• On Tuesday, it dawned on investors that the numbers don't mean much as they are old news and there is some opacity as to how they were calculated. The US lost 105,000 jobs in October (no surprise given the shutdown) and gained 64,000 in November. Unemployment ticked up to 4.6%. Retail sales also came in lighter than forecast. Indices gave up ground by the end of the day.
• Wednesday brought a harsher reaction as stocks were sharply lower as investors considered the fact that the jobs numbers didn't really leave any kind of clear path for the Federal Reserve. Comments from a few Fed officials that they see room for more rate cuts were unable to rescue stocks from the sell-off.
• Thursday brought a reprieve as indices recovered thanks to a report offering delayed inflation numbers from October and November. they showed inflation cooling, but there were again some questions about how the numbers were calculated.
• Friday closed out the week on a positive note as stocks were again higher everywhere. Oracle led a Tech recovery. That stock had plummeted the prior day on news of losing some private funding, but bounced back on news that ByteDance signed deals to create a US TikTok joint venture.
• Next week will obviously be a holiday-shortened one, but before we wrap up (pardon the pun), we will get to look at delayed reports on US GDP and durable goods orders. The New York Stock Exchange will close at 1 pm on Christmas Eve and will remain closed all Christmas Day.

Performance Summary

As shown in the chart, the US was the week's winner, but only by holding about unchanged as it was Non-US Developed and Emerging Markets that pulled the global index lower. Within the US, despite a bumpy week, it was the Tech-heavy Nasdaq that won the day as the more traditional stocks of the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped modestly. From a factor perspective, Momentum and Size outperformed the global All Country World Index (ACWI).

In The News

6 New Social Security Bills in Congress at Year-End.

https://thinkadvisor.com/2025/12/18/6-new-social-security-bills-in-congress-at-year-end/?kw=6%20New%20Social%20Security%20Bills%20in%20Congress%20at%20Year-End&utm_position=1&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=dailywire&utm_content=20251218&utm_term=tadv&oly_enc_id=6911H2583589A7Z&user_id=3d158419d93f4751d4b3b79dd78d9abf446b89b61e92e7567cb4126b86cb53c5

Don't use this reason to avoid stocks.

https://thinkadvisor.com/2025/12/15/this-is-a-terrible-reason-to-sell-stocks-according-to-josh-brown?kw=A%20Terrible%20Reason%20to%20Avoid%20Stocks%3A%20Josh%20Brown&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=newsroomupdate&utm_content=20251215&utm_term=ta&oly_enc_id=6911H2583589A7Z&user_id=3d158419d93f4751d4b3b79dd78d9abf446b89b61e92e7567cb4126b86cb53c5

What does it mean when retirees go back to work?

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/when-retirees-go-back-to-work-is-it-a-sign-of-a-strong-labor-force-or-a-recession-779d295c?mod=home_lead

Disclosures

Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable or equal the corresponding indicated performance level(s). Moreover, you should not assume that any of the above content serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Metric Financial.

All data and performance information sourced from Morningstar and MarketWatch, unless otherwise indicated.

USA is the MSCI USA index, Non-US Developed is the MSCI EAFE index, Emerging Markets is the MSCI Emerging Markets index, and All Country World is the MSCI ACWI index. One cannot invest in an index. Because the factor indexes have varying inception dates, some of the returns provided are back-tested and do not represent actual performance. Inception dates are as follows:

Momentum = MSCI ACWI Momentum NR USD Index (Inception: 11/30/95)

Value = MSCI ACWI Enhanced Value NR USD Index (Inception: 5/29/15)

Quality = MSCI ACWI Quality NR USD Index (Inception: 5/29/92)

Low Volatility = MSCI ACWI Minimum Volatility (USD) NR USD Index (Inception: 5/28/93)

Size = MSCI ACWI Risk Weighted NR USD Index (Inception: 4/6/11)

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