Stocks ended mixed Monday, as markets failed to claw back last week's sharp declines heading into a key week for tech stocks on Wall Street, while investors reacted to looming tariff threats.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 33.19 points, or 0.08%, to end the session at 43,461.21, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.5%, closing at 5,983.25 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 1.21% to finish the day at 19,286.92.
Major tech names like Palantir, Nvidia, and Microsoft all lost ground.
During a press conference, President Donald Trump suggested tariffs on Mexico and Canada would "go forward on time, on schedule," once a month-long delay is over next week.
Updated at 1:17 PM EST
Buy American
The Treasury closed the first of three coupon bond auctions slated to raise $183 billion this week with a $69 billion sale of new 2-year notes that drew modestly weaker domestic demand but a massive surge in foreign buyers.
So-called indirect bidders, which are mostly comprised of foreign central banks, took down 85% of the sale, compared to just 65% from a similar sale last month.
Overall, investors placed bids worth $176.64 billion for the $69 billion paper on offer, generating a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.56, down from 2.66 in January and the six-auction average of around 2.68.
US 2-Year Note Sale:
— LiveSquawk (@LiveSquawk) February 24, 2025
- High Yield Rate: 4.169% (prev 4.211%
- Bid-Cover Ratio: 2.56 (prev 2.66)
- Direct Accepted: 7.6% (prev 21.3%)
- Indirect Accepted: 85.5% (prev 65.0%)
- WI: 4.180%
Updated at 11:48 AM EST
Fading gains
Stocks are giving back some of their earlier gains, even with a big pullback in Treasury bond yields, as investors continue to worry about the impact of tax, tariff and immigration policies on the world's biggest economy.
"While today’s macro environment doesn’t resemble previous market peaks, and there remains a path for further market upside, policy uncertainty poses a significant challenge to sustaining bullish sentiment," said Christian Floro, senior associate and market strategist at Principal Asset Management.
"Following double-digit returns for U.S. equities over the past two years, and with valuations now incredibly expensive, investors are increasingly concerned about whether markets have peaked," he added.
The S&P 500 was last marked 8 points higher on the session, with the Nasdaq down 72 points. The Dow, meanwhile, was holding onto a 170 point gain.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields were last seen 4 basis points lower on the session at 4.395% while 2-year notes were pegged at 4.xxx%
Dallas Fed Mfg Index Feb - biggest sequential plunge since March 2020
— Mike Zaccardi, CFA, CMT 🍖 (@MikeZaccardi) February 24, 2025
Significant declines in production, new orders, and capacity utilization, while input costs rose and wage pressures eased slightly. pic.twitter.com/jQ9DlKs5AC
Updated at 9:33 AM EST
Green open
The S&P 500 was marked 20 points, or 0.33% higher in the opening minutes of trading, with the Nasdaq rising77 points, or 0.4%.
The Dow gained 165 points and the Russell 2000 mid-cap index edged 5 points, or 0.23% into the green.
"This could be a key week for a stock market that’s mostly been trading sideways for more than two months," said Chris Larkin, managing director for trading and investing at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley.
"Even though the S&P 500 hit another record high last Wednesday, it lost ground for the week amid concerns about inflation and the US consumer," he added. "Those issues aren’t going away any time soon, and this week’s PCE Price Index, revised GDP, and durable goods data may help shape the sentiment surrounding them."
S&P 500 Opening Bell Heatmap (Feb. 24, 2025)$SPY +0.37% 🟩$QQQ +0.33% 🟩$DJI +0.36% 🟩$IWM +0.27% 🟩 pic.twitter.com/kGF7nwd6Li
— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) February 24, 2025
Updated at 9:12 AM EST
Apple deal
Apple (AAPL) shares edged lower in early trading after the tech giant unveiled plans to spend $500 billion in U.S. investments over the next four years.
The plans, which include construction of a 250,000-square-foot data center in Houston, were described by CEO Tim Cook as a "bullish" outlook on tech investments in the United States and come just days after a meeting in the Whit House with President Donald Trump.
Apple shares were marked 0.9% lower in premarket trading to indicate an opening bell price of $243.49 each.
Related: Top analyst weighs in on Apple's massive U.S. spending surprise
Stock Market Today
The Nasdaq ended 2.5% lower on Friday, extending its worst week of decline in three months, amid a broader market selloff that erased all the S&P 500's February gains and lopped nearly 750 points from the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Markets were spooked by a disappointing reading of services-sector activity, the economy's key growth driver, from S&P Global's PMI report, as well as by a big jump in inflation expectations from the University of Michigan's benchmark consumer survey.
Both concerns will be front-and-center again this week when the Commerce Department publishes its second estimate of fourth-quarter GDP on Thursday and the Bureau of Economic Analysis follows with its PCE price index data, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, on Friday.
The readings will also follow the market's key February focus after the close of trading on Wednesday, when AI-chip maker Nvidia (NVDA) reports fourth quarter results and updates investors on its near-term outlook.
The group's guidance on AI demand will be crucial for market sentiment following the emergence of China-based DeepSeek's AI chatbot. The company behind it says it was created at a fraction of the cost that its rivals are planning: the hundreds of billions in planned AI spending by hyperscalers such as Microsoft (MSFT) , Amazon (AMZN) , Meta Platforms (META) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) .
Nvidia's updates will effectively close out the fourth quarter earnings season, which has topped most Wall Street forecasts and delivered year-on-year profit growth of around 15.7%.
That pace is expected to slow to around 8.3% over the three months ending in March, a traditionally weaker month for corporate profits, but the full-year forecast of an 11.1% gain remains on track.
Heading into the start of the trading day on Wall Street, futures contracts tied to the S&P 500, which is now down 0.45% for the month, are priced for a solid 32-point opening-bell gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is priced for a 297-point advance.
Related: Walmart issues a startling business outlook
The tech-focused Nasdaq, meanwhile, is called 93 points higher with Nvidia, Tesla (TSLA) and Intel (INTC) active in premarket trading.
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) shares were also in focus, rising 1.4% after the investment vehicle of billionaire Warren Buffett posted its third straight year of record profit while its cash position hit an all-time high of $334.2 billion.
More Wall Street Analysis:
- Analyst revisits Palantir stock forecast after annual report filing
- Veteran analyst sounds the alarm on Google and Mag 7
- Veteran stock analyst delivers blunt 3-word message on tariffs
In Europe, Germany's DAX performance index was marked 0.9% higher in Frankfurt following the weekend election win for the center-right Christian Democrats, which paves the way for their leader, Fredrich Mertz, to form a coalition government over the coming weeks.
The result, which will sideline the far-right AfD part to the opposition in the German Bundestag, lifted the euro to a one-month high against the U.S. dollar and helped the regional Stoxx 600 benchmark to a 0.24% gain in mid-day trading.
Overnight in Asia, stocks in the region extended their recent run of gains with the MSCI ex-Japan benchmark rising 0.24% into the close of trading while the Nikkei 225 remained closed for the annual celebration of the Emperor's Birthday.
Related: Veteran fund manager unveils eye-popping S&P 500 forecast
