Indicators of the Year, Past and Future

2025 is finally over. It was a wild year for the U.S. economy. Tariffs transformed global trading, consumer sentiment hit near-historic lows, and stocks hit dramatic new heights! So … which of these economic stories defined the year?

We will square off in a family feud to make our case, debate, and decide it.

Also, as we enter 2026, we are watching the trends and planning out what next years stories are likely to be. So we’re picking which indicators will become next years most telling.

On today’s episode, our indicators of this past year AND our top indicator predictions for 2026.


Related episodes:

The Indicators of this year and next (2024)

This indicator hasn’t flashed this red since the dot-com bubble

What would it mean to actually refund the tariffs?

What AI data centers are doing to your electric bill

What indicators will 2025 bring?


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This episode of Planet Money was produced by James Sneed. The episodes of The Indicator were produced by Angel Carreras, edited by Julia Ritchey, engineered by Robert Rodrigez and Kwesi Lee, and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Kate Concannon is the editor of the Indicator. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

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