usMarkets_newsStory

US Equity Indexes Slip as Cautious Investors Pull Back From Technology While Backing Utilities

1:14 PM ET 05/20/2025 - MT Newswires

The Nasdaq Composite slid 0.2% to 19,173.1, the S&P 500 down 0.3% to 5,948.7, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.2% lower at 42,691.2. Real estate, energy, and financials were also among the intraday decliners. Utilities led the gainers.

Gold futures jumped 1.6% to $3,284.61 per ounce.

US Treasury yields traded mixed intraday. The US 10-year was up less than one basis point to 4.48%, after trading lower earlier in the session. The two-year rate fell 1.9 basis points to 3.96%.

The "One Big Beautiful Bill" that made it through the House's Budget Committee last weekend would be associated with an increase in the US debt-to-GDP ratio of up to 25% in ten years, according to a note from Macquarie. "By again highlighting Congress's unwillingness to legislate fiscal controls, passage of the bill could make US Treasury yields go higher again, especially given traders' new focus on debts and deficits." Thierry Wizman, a global foreign-exchange and rates strategist at Macquarie, said in the note.

The ICE US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback's performance against the world's major currencies, slipped 0.1% to 100.29, extending its decline from Monday in the aftermath of Moody's Investors Service downgrading the US' sovereign credit rating late Friday.

"Other countries are strapped with higher sovereign debt too; the US is not alone," Wizman said in the note. "But it could still be the USD that suffers most from the high sovereign debt and the political impediments to reducing it."

In economic news, Redfin (RDFN) said Tuesday that US home prices dropped 0.1% in April on a seasonally adjusted basis, the first sequential decline since September 2022. Home prices rose 4.1% from a year ago, versus 4.9% growth in March and the lowest annual price growth since July 2023.

"Given the level of uncertainty that we're facing right now, it is appropriate that we wait and see how the policies evolve over time and their impact," Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said Monday at a conference in Atlanta, referring to trade tariffs negotiations and fiscal policy formulation, according to a note from Stifel Tuesday.

While also favoring a wait-and-see approach to future monetary policy adjustments, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic quantified his expectations for rate cuts, noting that only one reduction may be appropriate this year, the Stifel note cited Bostic's comments from CNBC Squawk Box.

Further, in economic news, Redbook US same-store sales climbed 5.4% from a year earlier in the week ended May 17 after a 5.8% increase in the previous week.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures rose 0.4% to $62.37 a barrel.

In company news, Pfizer (PFE) secured exclusive global rights, excluding China, to biopharmaceutical firm 3SBio's cancer treatment candidate in a licensing deal worth up to $6.05 billion.