Stock market today: Discouraging economic reports knock Wall Street further from its record​on February 21, 2025 at 3:59 am

Wall Street is pulling further from its record after reports on Friday showed worries about President Donald Trump’s policies may be hitting the U.S. economy.

The S&P 500 was down 0.6% in midday trading, a day after a weaker-than-expected profit forecast from Walmart helped knock it off its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 350 points, or 0.8%, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% lower.

Stock indexes pulled back following a series of weaker-than-expected reports on the economy. One suggested U.S. business activity is nearing stall-speed, with growth decelerating to a 17-month low. The preliminary report from S&P Global said activity for U.S. services businesses unexpectedly shrank, and many businesses in the survey reported optimism slumping because of worries about Washington.

“Companies report widespread concerns about the impact of federal government policies, ranging from spending cuts to tariffs and geopolitical developments,” said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. “Sales are reportedly being hit by the uncertainty caused by the changing political landscape, and prices are rising amid tariff-related price hikes from suppliers.”

A separate report said U.S. consumers are also preparing for higher inflation because of potential tariffs. They’re broadly expecting prices to be 4.3% higher 12 months from now, which is a big jump from last month’s forecast of 3.3% inflation, according to a survey by the University of Michigan. That fits with preliminary data the survey suggested earlier, though a divide is evident underneath the surface.

Inflation expectations are rising for political independents and Democrats, while falling slightly for Republicans.

A third report, meanwhile, said sales of previously occupied homes were weaker last month than economists expected. Relatively high mortgage rates have been hurting the housing market.

On Wall Street, Akamai Technologies helped drag the market lower even though the cybersecurity and cloud computing company reported stronger profit than analysts expected. It fell 16.6% as investors focused instead on its forecasts for revenue and other financial measures this upcoming year, which fell short of analysts’ expectations.

UnitedHealth Group was one of the heaviest weights on the market and fell 9% following a report that the U.S. Department of Justice has started an investigation into the health care giant’s Medicare billing practices. When asked for comment about the report from The Wall Street Journal, a UnitedHealth representative said they “will let you know if we have anything to say.”

On the winning side of Wall Street was Booking Holdings, the company behind Booking.com and OpenTable. It climbed 4.6% after delivering a better profit for the final three months of 2024 than analysts expected. It was able to grow its revenue while also cutting its operating costs.

Celsius Holdings, which sells “better-for-you” energy drinks, leaped 33% after saying it agreed to buy Alani Nu, a beverage company that focuses on female customers. Analysts called the purchase price, $1.65 billion net of tax effects, reasonable and said the deal should quickly add to profits for Celsius, which also reported its latest quarterly results.

Overall, the S&P 500 is still heading for a week of modest moves. It’s on track for a loss of only 0.6%. Helping to lift stocks has been a steady parade of better-than-expected profit reports. That’s been working against worries about stubbornly high inflation, which could prevent the Federal Reserve from delivering more relief for the economy and financial markets through lower interest rates.

Minutes from the Fed’s last policy meeting, which were released earlier this week, suggested officials may keep their main interest rate steady for a while given worries about potentially stubborn inflation. While lower rates can boos the economy, they can also encourage spending that puts upward pressure on inflation.

Treasury yields eased in the bond market following Friday’s weaker-than-expected economic reports. The yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 4.46% from 4.51% late Thursday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for upcoming Fed action, fell to 4.24% from 4.27%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe after rising across much of Asia.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 edged up 0.3% after the government said a key measure of inflation remained above the Bank of Japan’s target level last month. That could encourage it to keep raising interest rates. Last month, the Bank of Japan raised its key policy rate to about 0.50% from 0.25%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 4% for one of the world’s largest moves,, boosted by a surge for e-commerce firm Alibaba, which reported stronger profit for the end of last year than expected. It also talked up its artificial-intelligence developments.

Excitement around AI, along with the potential profits that it can create, has been one of the main reasons stock indexes have rallied to their records.

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AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

​Wall Street is pulling further from its record after reports showed worries about President Donald Trump’s policies may be hitting the U.S. economy.   

TOKYO – Wall Street was mixed with low volumes of trading Friday with major U.S. markets struggling to end in positive territory for the week.

Futures for the S&P 500 were virtually unchanged before the bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% and Nasdaq futures rose 0.3%. Only the S&P is in the green this week, and just barely, after a warning about the strength of sales from Walmart on Thursday.

Rivian slid 3.8% after the electric truck maker issued weaker-than-expected guidance, despite posting a smaller loss and stronger fourth-quarter sales than Wall Street expected.

UnitedHealth Group tumbled more than 8.6% in premarket after the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the health care giant’s Medicare billing practices. The report published Friday referred to the DOJ’s action as a “civil fraud investigation.”

Shares of other big pharmacy benefits managers also fell, with CVS down 3.5% and Cigna off a little more than 2%.

UnitedHealth Group shares have been under pressure since the Dec. 4 shooting death of the CEO of its health care division, Brian Thompson. The attack unleashed a wave of public resentment from Americans frustrated with insurance companies and their policies.

Booking.com rose 2.1% after the online travel company and owner of Priceline beat sales and profit forecasts and authorized another $20 billion share buyback.

Later Friday, the National Association of Realtors’ releases new data on existing home sales. Shares of home improvement retailers Home Depot and Lowe’s were up slightly before the bell.

At midday in Europe, France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.5%, while Germany’s DAX rose 0.2%. Britain’s FTSE 100 ticked up less than 0.1%.

In Japan, where investors were watching currency swings, the benchmark Nikkei 225 edged up 0.3% to finish at 38,776.94.

A weak yen is a boon for some export-reliant manufacturers in Japan. In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 150.38 Japanese yen from 149.53 yen. The euro cost $1.0470, down from $1.0500.

Japan’s government released the nationwide core consumer price index, excluding volatile fresh food prices, which rose 3.2% in January from the same month last year.

The inflation rate is key in the Bank of Japan’s decision on interest rates, and the rate has remained at or above the central bank’s target of 2% inflation. Last month, the Bank of Japan raised its key policy rate to 0.5% from 0.25%.

“A variety of factors have market expectations pivoting toward rate hikes: recent hawkish comments from BoJ officials; stronger-than-expected GDP data; and a rising CPI,” said Min Joo Kang, senior economist at ING Economics.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.3% to 8,296.20, while South Korea’s Kospi was little changed, adding less than 0.1% to 2,654.58. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 4.0% to 23,477.92, boosted by a surge in shares of Alibaba, which reported robust financial results.

Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding posted its fastest revenue growth in more than a year, beating analyst expectations as it capitalizes on the artificial intelligence boom in China. Alibaba’s net profit jumped to 48.9 billion yuan, or $6.71 billion, in figures released Thursday.

Alibaba’s New York-traded stock rose 8.1% following the earnings results. Chief Executive Eddie Wu said Alibaba plans to “aggressively invest” in artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure.

Chinese technology companies are attracting global attention after DeepSeek recently released a new AI model that it says is on par with similar models from U.S. companies such as ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.

The Shanghai Composite gained 0.9% to 3,379.11.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 62 cents to $71.86 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 59 cents to $75.89 a barrel.

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