Wall Street Stocks Close Mixed as Treasury Yields Retreat
By Chibuike Oguh
NEW YORK () – U.S. stocks ended a volatile session with minor changes on Thursday, recovering from early losses as Treasury yields retreated from their recent peaks following the passage of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill by the House of Representatives.
Recently, worries over the U.S. deficit have caused an increase in Treasury yields and put pressure on stock prices; however, yields for longer-term bonds dropped on Thursday, giving equities some respite. Following a peak hit earlier, the key U.S. 10-year bond yield declined by 5.4 basis points to stand at 4.543%.
The benchmark S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended flat, while the Nasdaq edged higher. All three major Wall Street indexes had posted their biggest single-day percentage drops in a month on Wednesday as Treasury yields spiked on U.S. debt worries.
The House, controlled by Republicans, narrowly approved the legislation, aiming to deliver several promises made during Trump’s campaign to his supporters. However, this would add an extra $3.8 trillion to the current U.S. debt load of $36.2 trillion over the coming ten years, as estimated by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
Investors are likewise considering the effect of Trump’s tariffs on U.S. imports, particularly how they may influence consumer prices.
The issue of today revolves around the tax bill, which seems to have been approved,” stated George Young, a partner and portfolio manager at Villere & Co based in New Orleans. “However, our focus is primarily on larger possible concerns, with the key factors being tariffs and interest rates.
Young further explained that markets dislike ambiguity, and we’re still dealing with the shadow cast by tariffs along with concerns in the bond market, which operates independently of politics and spans globally.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped only 1.35 points to close at 41,859.09, the S&P 500 declined marginally by 2.60 points, equivalent to 0.04%, ending at 5,842.01, whereas the Nasdaq Composite saw an increase of 53.09 points, or 0.28%, reaching 18,925.74.
Out of the 11 S&P 500 subsectors, eight ended up declining, with utilities, healthcare, energy, and consumer staples leading the way down. On the bright side, consumer discretionary, communications services, and technology sectors showed gains.
Large-capitalization growth stocks such as Nvidia, Amazon, and Tesla saw gains. Alphabet climbed 1.3%, having reached almost a three-month peak earlier. Apple finished slightly lower at -0.36%.
Snowflake saw its stock jump over 13% following an increase in the company’s projected product revenue for fiscal year 2026, as reported by the cloud computing enterprise.
Despite exceeding Wall Street’s expectations for quarterly performance, Analog Devices dropped 4.6%.
Shares of solar energy firms such as First Solar declined following expectations that Trump’s tax proposal would eliminate several green-energy incentives. First Solar ultimately closed 4.3% lower.
Issues falling outnumbered those advancing by a ratio of 1.17 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Additionally, there were 68 new highs and 99 new lows recorded on the same exchange.
The S&P 500 saw four fresh 52-week highs along with nine new lows, whereas the Nasdaq Composite noted 49 new peaks and 109 new troughs within the same period.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 16.09 billion shares, compared with the 17.56 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
(Reported by Chibuike Oguh in New York; additional reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Kanchana Chakravarty in Bangalore; Edited by Pooja Desai and Richard Chang)