Wall Street stocks finish flat after choppy trading, as Treasury yields decrease
U.S. stock prices finished Thursday little changed, erasing an initial decline, as Treasury yields eased from recent highs following the House of Representatives' passage of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending plan.
Stocks were under pressure on Thursday as longer-dated Treasury yields dropped, which allowed stocks to breathe.
After reaching its highest level since February, the benchmark U.S. 10 year note yield dropped 5.4 basis points to 4,543%.
The Republican-controlled House voted by a slim margin to pass the bill, which would fulfill many of Trump's campaign pledges to his political base, but will increase the $36.2 trillion U.S. debt pile by $3.8 trillion over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Investors also consider the impact that Trump's tariffs will have on U.S. imported goods, as well as on consumer prices.
George Young, portfolio manager and partner at Villere & Co, New Orleans, said that the problem was today's tax bill. It appears to have been passed. "But we're thinking of bigger problems, and the two things that are on the table right now are tariffs and rates."
Young continued, "The market is averse to uncertainty. We still have this overhang from the tariffs as well as the bond market which are totally apolitical.
The preliminary data shows that the S&P 500 fell 4.89 points or 0.08% to 5,839.72, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 45.56 or 0.27% to 18,923.23. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 11.37 points or 0.03% to 41,849.07.
Megacap growth shares, such as Nvidia and Amazon, have risen. Alphabet firmed up after reaching a near three-month high.
Snowflake has jumped since the cloud computing company raised its product revenue forecast for fiscal 2026.
Analog Devices' shares fell, despite the fact that Wall Street had expected better results for its quarterly report.
First Solar and other solar energy companies saw their shares drop as Trump's new tax bill will likely end many green-energy subsidies.
(source: Reuters)
