As shown in Table 1, foreign stock funds took a prominent spot on the 2025 list of top-performing mutual funds, ending a two-year run of dominance by funds in the growth and technology categories. More than half of the year’s 50 best-performing mutual funds were either from foreign large or diversified emerging markets categories.

European stock indexes performed well in 2025, particularly the British FTSE 100 index. Additionally, eurozone economies continued to grow last year while the euro gained against a weakening U.S. dollar. The global S&P Developed Ex-U.S. BMI index’s return jumped to 35.5% in 2025, versus a 17.9% gain for the S&P 500 index. (The U.K. has the second-largest country/region weight in the S&P Developed Ex-U.S. BMI, trailing only Japan.)

Download the Excel spreadsheet of Table 1.

Emerging markets also benefited from the weaker U.S. dollar. Other contributing factors included growing demand for semiconductors (which helped countries like Taiwan) and the extended rally in gold prices. Gold prices set new record highs last year, leading three equity precious metals funds to be 2025’s best-performing mutual funds.

Overall, only two of 2024’s best performers made 2025’s top list: Fidelity Select Semiconductors fund (FSELX) and Fidelity Select Communication Services fund (FBMPX).