This year was already expected to be an eventful one for markets, with Donald Trump's return to the White House in January.
But even before Trump's inauguration, investors were met with plenty of volatility. Concerns about stubborn inflation, economic stagnation and rising sovereign debt levels prompted a sell-off in government bonds, leading to a rise in borrowing costs.
After Trump was sworn in for a second term on 20 January, the US president stormed ahead with his policy agenda, signing a flurry of executive actions in just hours after returning to office. This didn't spook investors but rather spurred markets on, with the S&P 500 (^GSPC) notching a fresh high that week, as Trump holding off on immediately imposing trade tariffs provided some relief.
As these tariffs kicked in on Tuesday and China retaliated with levies, markets wobbled, getting February off to a shaky start.
So where were investors putting their money amid this uncertainty in January? Here's which stocks and funds proved most popular last month, according to investment platforms.
January's most popular stocks
Despite last month's turbulence, AJ Bell (AJB.L) investment analyst Dan Coatsworth said that "DIY investors were in risk-on mode during January 2025", judging by the most popular individual savings account (ISA) investment choices on the platform.
“Exposure to global markets and the tech sector topped the list of places investors deployed money, suggesting they started the new year hoping for broad-based gains on equity markets or a third year in a row for tech sector strength," he said.
Chipmaker Nvidia was one of the most popular stocks on AJ Bell's list for DIY ISA investors, and also featured on the top shares lists from Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.L), Interactive Investor and Robinhood (HOOD).
While Nvidia's share price took a sizeable hit in last week's AI-related stock rout, the stock is still up 79% over one year.
Fellow chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices was also among the most popular stocks on AJ Bell's (AJB.L) and HL's (HL.L) lists, though its share price performance has been much weaker.
The stock is down nearly 33% over the past year, with its latest results proving to be a further disappointment to investors. AMD (AMD) shares were down 9% in pre-market trading on Wednesday, as even though the company delivered strong headline figures in the fourth quarter, its data centre revenue missed against expectations.
Software business MicroStrategy featured on each of the platform's lists, having become considered as a play on bitcoin (BTC-USD), given it is the world's largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency, according to a Financial Times report.
The stock is up a whopping 597% over the past year, following a similar trajectory to the price of bitcoin (BTC-USD). Bitcoin rallied in the wake of Trump's election win in November, topping the $100,000 mark, though it has since eased back slightly to $98,693.
A popular investment in January, that tracked Trump's ascent back to power, is electric vehicle maker Tesla. ·REUTERS / Reuters
Another popular investment in January, that has similarly tracked Trump's ascent back to power, is electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA). The company's CEO Elon Musk was a major supporter of Trump's presidential campaign and was appointed to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Shares in Tesla (TSLA) are up 109% on a one-year basis, even as fourth quarter earnings last week disappointed against estimates, as investors remained optimistic about the company. Musk said on an earnings call that paid, unsupervised full self-driving was coming to Austin, Texas in June.
FTSE-listed (^FTSE) biopharma firm GSK featured on both AJ Bell's and Hargreaves Lansdown's lists. Investors cheered GSK's full-year results, released on Wednesday, after the company raised its 2031 sales outlook to £40bn and launched a £2bn share buyback programme.
Meanwhile, housebuilder Taylor Wimpey appeared on Interactive Investor and HL's lists. While shares are down 19% over one year, amid nervousness in the housebuilding sector, Taylor Wimpey recently said in an update that it was trading "in line with guidance", offering some relief to investors.
Top funds in January
Passive funds — index funds and exchange-traded funds tracking an index — dominated the list of popular funds in January, provided by AJ Bell, Interactive Investor and HL.
AJ Bell's Coatsworth said that this "reinforces the view that more people are turning their back on active managers.
"It’s very hard for a fund manager to outperform the market year in, year out, and investors are increasingly opting for the lower-cost passive route which simply moves in line with a specific market or index," he said.
The Fidelity Index World fund (0P000125KV.L) featured on all three lists and has generated a return of 21.6% over one year. The top holdings are the "Magnificent 7" tech behemoths — Apple (AAPL), Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Meta (META), Tesla (TSLA) and Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG).
The Legal & General Global Technology Index Trust (0P000023MW.L) was also on each of the lists, which is up 37.7% over one year. Many of the Mag 7 also feature in the fund's portfolio, reinforcing the view that investors are confident that there are further gains to be had from Big Tech.
Investors having flocked to gold recently, given it is considered a safe-haven investment in times of uncertainty. ·Reuters / Reuters
Aside from investors betting on the continued market momentum behind some of the world's largest companies to deliver returns, Interactive Investor's list also pointed to some efforts to balance market risk amid volatility. Royal London's Short Term Money Market (0P0000NRQO.L) fund, which is nearly 92% invested in cash, and the iShares Physical Gold (SGLN.L) exchange-traded commodity (ETC), were among the top funds.
The iShares ETC from BlackRock (BLK) seeks to track the spot gold price, with investors having flocked to the precious metal more recently, given it is considered a safe-haven investment in times of uncertainty. Gold prices notched fresh highs this week, as Trump followed through with tariffs. There are concerns that the tariffs could prove inflationary and gold is considered a hedge against these pressures.
Three active funds featured on HL's list, one of which was Rathbone Global Opportunities (0P0000VDYA.L). In addition to tech companies, including Nvidia (NVDA) and Microsoft (MSFT), retail giants Costco (COST) and Walmart (WMT) were also among the top holdings. The fund has produced a return of 17.2% over one year, beating the Investment Association's (IA) Global sector's 12.6%.
While January proved to be a rocky month for markets, particularly for those investors bullish on the AI growth story, these lists demonstrate that investors remained confident in this theme over the long-term.
