Smart Money Moves for Q4 2025: What's Hot and What's Not

The stock market is on a roll, with the S&P 500 hitting record highs. But where should you put your money next? Let's break it down. First off, small-cap value stocks are looking pretty good. Jared Woodard, head of the Research Investment Committee at BofA, is keeping an eye on this space. Meanwhile, Tony Despirito, BlackRock's global CIO for fundamental equities, is hunting for companies with earnings that have hit rock bottom and are ready to bounce back. AI is still the talk of the town. Jason Hsu, founder of Rayliant Global Advisors, thinks the AI rally is just getting started. He suggests splitting your investment between Chinese and US AI stocks. David Lefkowitz, head of US equities at UBS Global Wealth Management, is focusing on companies building AI infrastructure. Gold and bitcoin have taken a hit lately, but Ben McMillan, CIO at IDX Advisors, still believes in them. He recommends splitting your investment equally between the two. If you're looking outside the US, David Kelly, chief global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, suggests checking out UK and European stocks. They're cheaper and offer bigger dividends. This week, keep an eye on the Fed rate decision and big-tech earnings. Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple are all reporting. In other news, a college dropout named Dimitri Semenikhin ignited the latest meme-stock craze. Real estate investors are using 1031 exchanges to avoid capital gains taxes. And gold funds are on track to absorb a record $108 billion in 2025. In our build-a-portfolio workshop, we're managing a hypothetical portfolio with Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan, Microsoft, and Tesla. Tesla had a rough week, but we're not giving up just yet. Should we add Nvidia or dive into quantum computing? Let us know what you think.