United States stock indices closed virtually flat on Thursday (Friday AEST) as early losses were recouped after bond yields came off their highs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.35 points to 41,859.09, the S&P 500 index dipped 2.60 points or 0.04% to 5,842.01 and the technology-based Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) rose 53.09 points or 0.28% to 18,925.74.
This was the third successive session of decline for the Dow, which tracks the 30 largest publicly-traded companies in the U.S., and the broader S&P.
All three indices suffered their biggest losses in a month on Wednesday due to a spike in bond yields caused by concern about the U.S. Government's budget deficit and debt.
However yields pulled back from their highest point since February with the U.S. 10-year Treasury note rate falling 5.4 basis points to 4.543% on Thursday.
Eight out of 11 S&P 500 sectors finished lower, led by utilities, healthcare, energy and consumer staples stocks, while consumer discretionary, communication services and technology stocks advanced.
Among the so-called ‘magnificent seven’ tech shares, NVIDIA, Amazon, Tesla and Alphabet firmed while Apple pulled back.
Cloud computing firm Snowflake surged more than 13% after lifting its fiscal 2026 product revenue forecast, while semiconductor maker Analog Devices dropped 4.6% despite exceeding quarterly results expectations.
President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill was passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, increasing debt by US$3.8 trillion from $36.2 trillion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Villere & Co Partner and Portfolio Manager George Young said although the tax bill had been approved, the stock market had other concerns.
".. we are thinking about bigger potential problems and the two main things on the table are tariffs and interest rates," he was quoted by Reuters as saying.
