2025’s Top Five Tech Stocks So Far

Economic

Stocks

Summary:

For all those interested in CFD share trading with iFOREX: What are five of the best-performing tech stocks of 2025 so far?

February saw a sharpselloff in tech stocks, catalyzed by chipmaker Nvidia, whose stock was batteredafter DeepSeek – the Chinese startup – released their new AI chatbot. When AIenthusiasm then waned, the tech sector suffered overall, and this was exacerbated by the economic uncertaintyimplied by President Trump’s plans to impose import tariffs on America’strading partners.

Some tech firms, however,have had a better time than others. For readers interested in online sharetrading, whether on the iFOREX platform or any other one, we offer our overviewof five of the biggest movers and shakers in the sector so far this year.

Between the beginning of2024 and mid-February 2025, Pinterest stock appreciated by 8% – considerablyless than the 26% gains recorded by the broader S&P 500 index. One of thefirm’s main challenges was that of heightened operational costs, but theirstock started to perk up in Q4 2024.

One week into February2025, Pinterest stock rose as much as 19.1% in share trading when Wall Street absorbedtheir results for the previous quarter. The firm had drawn in revenues of $1.15billion, making for year-on-year growth of 18%. Pinterest – which offers avisual platform for idea discovery – also raised their sales forecast for Q12025 from $837 million to $852 million.

CEO Bill Ready boaststhat “the platform has never been more actionable and our lower funnel focus isdriving results for users and advertisers”. Another thing Bill has going in hisfavour is a client base of monthly active members surpassing 553 million, whichbodes well for the future.

Netflix

During 2022, and then inthe excitement surrounding AI stocks, traders largely forgot about videostreamer Netflix. The company’s shares, however, gained a substantial 13% nearthe end of February 2025 for several good reasons. Traders were happily surprisedby the company’s Q4 results, which included figures like 16% revenue growth. Inaddition, Netflix added as many as 18.9 million subscribers, making the WallStreet estimate of 9.2 million pale in comparison. The company also raised itssubscription prices, which look set to drive further revenue growth.Specifically, they hiked the prices of their ad-supported tier from $6.99 to$7.99 in America in a move thoroughly approved of by JP Morgan and otheranalysts.

Netflix hosted theenormously successful fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul last year, whichwas reportedly the most watched sporting event in history. Since the firm hasdirect access to a viewer base numbering 300 million people, the field of live sportingevents could prove even more fruitful for them in times to come.

Sony

Sony’s biggest growthengine is its gaming segment, which lately churns out the popular PlayStation 5platform. Their fiscal year saw a significant drop in gaming sales in Q2, butthe following quarter saw a heartening 16% increase in sales year-on-year.Beyond gaming, the company offers services in music, film, and even financialservices, all of which experienced growth in fiscal Q3. Their earnings pershare for the quarter came in at $0.41 – better than analysts’ expectations of$0.30.

The firm raised theirrevenue forecast in February, sparking a 10.7% surge in share trading atmid-month. Now they anticipated sales for the year to come in 4% higher thantheir November estimate. All this came on the back of solid performance inSony’s gaming and music divisions in Q3. For instance, 9.5 million units of thePlayStation 5 console were sold, dwarfing predictions of only 8.2 million. Onefigure that makes CEO Hiroki Totoki particularly proud is the company’s 5%year-on-year rise in active user accounts.

Meta Platforms

The start of February waspositive for Meta, who recorded their 12th consecutive session ofshare price gains, bringing their market capitalization up to $1.8 trillion. Asto DeepSeek’s earlier shakeup of AI stocks, this actually left Meta with reasonto smile, namely that the company is “the only one of the ‘Magnificent 7’ tofocus on an open-sourced model”, in the words of Angelo Zino of CFRA Research,which we’ll explain.

Software is calledopen-sourced when its developers publicize its source code, making it possiblefor others to use and build upon it. By contrast, closed-sourced software,whose foundational code remains wrapped in mystery, functions under the controlof the developer. DeepSeek’s most recent AI model, called R1, falls under theopen-source category, and this contributed to its attractiveness. That’s because this software type is cheaper, which lowerscosts for developers, thus promoting more aggressive innovation. CEO MarkZuckerberg believes his firm’s AI assistant will become the most popular ofthem all.

Intel

Under President Biden,moves were made to bolster the US’s manufacturing prominence in the face ofEast Asian strength. The US Chips and Science Act channeled American taxpayerfunds to Intel – the only American company capable of producing AI chips. In orderto merit the continued flow of capital, however, the firm has to meet deadlinesin terms of new manufacturing activity, which is why a delay – announced at theend of February – in the opening of Intel’s semiconductor plant in Ohio wasquite disappointing.

Rewinding to mid-month,however, Intel had clocked in 23.6% gains in only one week, inspired by rumoursof a possible partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSCM) –Intel’s arch nemesis. It was also reported that the US government mightcontinue pumping capital into the newly created entity. Trump’s statedintention of protecting domestic manufacturers could bring even more benefitsto the US chip firm in months and years to come.

FinalThoughts

The tech sector is hometo some of the most pioneering companies in the stock market today. Operatingin fields like artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, and cloudcomputing, they ceaselessly find means of improving the ways we work,communicate, shop, and use our leisure time. It’s widely agreed that – blipsaside – the sector will adopt a commanding role in our future society. Whetherprices are rising or falling, you can benefit from these companies’ growthstories through CFD trading on thecelebrated iFOREX CFD trading platform.

Source: ForexLive

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Danske Bank

Central Bank

We expect the Bank of England to keep the Bank Rate unchanged at 4.50% on Thursday 20 March in line with consensus and market pricing. We expect the vote split to be 6-3 with the majority voting for an unchanged decision and Dhingra, Taylor and Mann voting for a cut. Note, this meeting will not include updated projections nor a press conference following the release of the statement.

Overall, we expect the BoE to stick to its previous guidance noting that “a gradual and careful approach to removing monetary policy restraint remains appropriate“. We expect the MPC to highlight heightened uncertainty due to domestic fiscal policy initiatives and trade policy tensions. By extension, we expect them to be in no rush to alter the current guidance. Since the last monetary policy decision in February, data has been mixed. The economy continues to stagnate, the labour market is gradually loosening while price pressures continue to be elevated. The economy ended 2024 on a slightly stronger note than in the MPC’s projection, growing 0.1% q/q in Q4 2024. However, PMI data and monthly GDP estimate for January signals that growth remains muted, increasing the downside risks to the growth outlook. While private sector wage growth was slightly lower than expected at 6.2% in the three months to September (vs BoE forecast of 6.3%) it remains significantly elevated. On the inflation front, inflation was slightly higher than expected in headline terms but still showed broad based easing when looking at the service sector. The reaction to the impending increase in employers’ national insurance contribution from April remains a risk for the labour market.

Bank of England Preview – Quarterly Cuts Amid Elevated Uncertainty_1

BoE call. We expect the BoE to stick to quarterly cuts, leaving the Bank Rate at 3.75% by YE 2025, which is lower than markets are expecting. Markets are pricing around 55bp for the remainder of the year. However, we highlight that the risk is skewed towards a swifter cutting cycle in 2025, given the dovish bias within the MPC.

Market reaction. We expect the market reaction to be rather muted upon announcement with an unchanged decision fully expected by markets and the BoE aiming to keep its options fully open. More broadly, we expect EUR/GBP to move lower in the coming quarters driven by a relatively hawkish BoE, and a growth pickup in the UK relative to the euro area in 2025. The key risks are continued elevated uncertainty, more euro optimism and a more forceful policy easing stance from the BoE.

Source: Danske Bank

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Saif

Economic

Retail and food services sales rose just 0.2% month-on-month (m/m), disappointing expectations for a stronger rebound following January’s contraction. Data revisions also expanded January’s contraction to -1.2% m/m from the initially reported 0.9% decline.

Vehicle and parts sales fell for the second consecutive month, weighing on the headline (-0.4% m/m). Sales at gasoline stations also posted a sizeable decline, falling by 1% from the prior month. Building materials and equipment stores’ sales edged slightly higher (+0.2% m/m), posting the first gain since September 2024.

Sales in the “control group”, which the excludes volatile components above (i.e., gasoline, autos and building supplies) fared much better than the headline, increasing by 1% on the month, fully reversing January’s drop.

Online sales rebounded 2.4% on the month, but sales were mixed across brick-and-mortar retailers. The largest gains were in health & personal care stores (+1.7% m/m). Sales also increased at food and beverage stores (+0.4% m/m) and general merchandise stores (+0.2%). On the other hand, February marked the second consecutive month that sales declined at the clothing and accessories stores (-0.6%) and sporting goods & hobby stores (-0.4% m/m).

Sales at bars and restaurants posted a large decline, falling by 1.5%, extending the disappointing performance in this category to three consecutive months.

Key Iplications

The rebound in the total retail sales was soft, but the gain in core sales was more robust, entirely reversing the January’s pullback which was likely influenced by inclement weather across much of the U.S. Still, the yo-yo like movements in the last couple of months leave core retail sales with little progress, stuck at the same level they were back in December of 2024. As a result, we expect real consumer spending to lose momentum in Q1, expanding by just 1.5% (annualized), less than half its pace in the fourth quarter of 2024.

For the year as whole, consumer spending is expected to be much softer. U.S. consumers are getting nervous about the intensifying trade fight which is fanning flames consumer anxiety about inflation. As a result, households’ confidence rapidly deteriorated in recent months. The University of Michigan’s index of consumer confidence showed year-ahead inflation expectations jumping to 4.9% in March, up from 4.3% in February and 2.8% in December 2024. This is the highest level since November 2022, when core PCE inflation was running north of 5%. Even as the labour market continues to hold up reasonably well and household wealth is still significant, the drop in sentiment will likely manifest in weaker spending over the coming quarters.

Source: Bank Financial Group

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ING

Central Bank

Drama aside, the Bank has – if anything – become more hawkish

Drama is not often synonymous with the Bank of England. But February’s meeting was nothing short of a bombshell. Catherine Mann, who for months had led the opposition to rate cuts, surprised everyone with her vote for a 50bp rate cut. And that posed the question: if the arch-hawk is prepared to vote for faster rate cuts, will the rest of the committee soon follow suit?

For all the excitement, the answer seems to be no. Most officials that have spoken since have struck a much more cautious tone. And looking beyond Mann’s vote, the February meeting had a more hawkish flavour. The statement talked about a “careful approach” to further easing. The new forecasts pointed to higher inflation this year, despite a sharp rise in market rates (which would normally dampen growth and price pressures).

The disagreement boils down to two things. First, Mann believes in a much more activist approach to setting policy than her peers. She was more aggressive on rate hikes, and now takes the same view on cuts. We sympathise with that view; the fixed-rate nature of UK lending (especially mortgages) means that policy changes take longer to feed through than they once did. If you believe the outlook for growth and inflation is shifting, then gradual rate cuts are initially much less effective than they once were.

And that’s the second point: Mann does believe the outlook has materially shifted. In recent comments, she has talked about the risk of “non-linear” falls in employment, in response to hefty tax hikes coming through for employers next month.

Certainly, the vibes surrounding the jobs market have gotten dramatically worse. Survey after survey has pointed to weaker hiring intentions, while talk of layoffs has increased. For now, though, that negativity hasn’t shown up in the hard data. Companies are required to report redundancies to the government via an HR1 notification. These haven’t shown any discernible uptick so far.

Redundancies haven't risen – yet

Bank of England to Hold Rates Against Backdrop of Sticky Inflation_1

Our base case is three more cuts this year

As long as that remains the case, the wider focus at the Bank will stay squarely on inflation. The simple fact is that wage growth is at 6%, while services inflation is bouncing around 5%. That’s an uncomfortable position for the BoE, even if both of those numbers should come lower through this year. Wage growth should gradually tick lower given the jobs market has cooled appreciably over recent months, irrespective of the forthcoming tax hike. Services inflation should be closer to 4%, or perhaps even below, by the summer, on account of more benign annual price hikes this spring.

For now, though, there’s little that’s happened since the February meeting that will have caused officials to shift their position. A rate cut is highly unlikely this week, given the Bank’s well-established pattern of cutting rates once per quarter. And when it comes to the vote split, we suspect we’ll get either a repeat of February’s 7-2 vote in favour of no change (with Dhingra and Mann dissenting, presumably in favour of a 25bp cut), or perhaps a 6-3 (with Alan Taylor joining calls for a cut, having done so back in December).

We expect Bank Rate to fall a bit further than markets are pricing

Bank of England to Hold Rates Against Backdrop of Sticky Inflation_2

Our base case is that the Bank continues on its current course of gradual rate cuts, with moves in May, August and November. We don’t rule out a faster pace though that would require more obvious and abrupt signs of weakening in the jobs market. We doubt the government’s Spring Statement on 26 March, where some spending cuts are widely expected, will dramatically change the story for the Bank.

Markets are still a tad reluctant to bake in those three remaining rate cuts in 2025 fully; 55bp of easing is priced by December. And despite the decent repricing lower in US rates over recent weeks, investors don’t expect rates to go any lower in 2026 or beyond. Markets are pricing a floor for Bank Rate of 3.9%, compared to our own forecast of 3.25%, which we expect to be reached by the summer of 2026.

Source: ING

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Thomas

Economic

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as military strikes are launched against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping, at an unspecified location in this handout image released March 15, 2025.

White House | Via Reuters

Oil prices rose on Monday after President Donald Trump said the U.S. would hold Iran responsible for any future attack by the Houthis, a militant group in Yemen that has repeatedly launched strikes on commercial shipping.

U.S. crude oil futures rose 40 cents, or 0.6%, to $67.58 per barrel. Global benchmark Brent traded 44 cents, or 0.62%, higher at $71.02 per barrel.

"Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN," Trump said in a post social media platform Truth Social. "IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!"

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

Source: CNBC

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Justin

Economic

Stocks

Key US indices staged an impressive rebound on Friday, turning the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) up one step away from formally entering correction territory (-10% from the peak). In doing so, the US economy is headed for recession if the theories coined by the index’s founder and first editor of the Wall Street Journal still apply.

In his theory, Charles Dow pointed out that the trend of the industrial index is correct if confirmed by the dynamics of the transport sector. However, since peaking in late November, the DJTA index has lost nearly 20%, accelerating its decline three weeks ago. The rapid decline has led to the formation of a ‘death cross,’ a bearish market signal when the 50-day moving average dips below the 200-day moving average.

The accumulated oversold conditions in equities over the past three weeks suggests a high chance of a rebound, but how soon that rebound will lose strength will depend on monetary policy and incoming data.

The DJI was down as low as 25 on the RSI index last week. This is an oversold area from where a reversal to the upside was forming in October 2023 and September 2022. However, this technique could be broken or confirmed by market reaction to the FOMC meeting later in the week.

It is within Powell and Co’s power to break the mature beginning of the recovery by softening the tone of comments and promising further rate cuts soon. In this case, the market would be in an attractive position for buyers, who could launch a global rally towards new highs above 45000.

However, downside risks are pretty much equivalent. Since Trump’s presidential election victory, Powell has noticeably tightened his tone: tariffs have a pro-inflationary effect and are operating even with expectations. Friday’s jump in inflation expectations to 2.5-year highs recorded by the University of Michigan doesn’t help matters either.

Consolidation and rebound in the indices are quite fragile right now. Without Fed support, the sell-off could quickly take on threatening proportions, triggering a liquidation of long positions and margin calls that could quickly take the index to 36000.

Source: ACTIONFOREX

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Owen Li

Economic

Sales at bars and restaurants posted a large decline, falling by 1.5%, extending the disappointing performance in this category to three consecutive months.