The three major US stock indexes recorded declines at the opening of trading today, Wednesday, May 21, marking the second consecutive session of decline. All sectors of the S&P 500 Index are trading in the red, with concerns about market uncertainty rising. Moody’s downgrade of the world’s largest economy continues to impact the outlook, leading long-term investors to reassess US sovereign debt risks. Doubts about Trump’s tax relief bill, which faces some obstacles in Congress, even among Republicans, are also weighing on US Treasury yields, casting a negative shadow over US indices.
US Treasury yields are rising at the beginning of trading on Wednesday, with the 10-year yield rising more than 1% to 4.5%, while the 30-year yield jumped above 5%. All S&P 500 sectors are trading in the red, with the technology sector leading the declines, down 1.52%, followed by the consumer staples sector, which fell 1.45%, the financials sector, which declined 0.27%, the energy sector, which declined 0.55%, the healthcare sector, which declined 0.83%, and the industrials sector, which declined 0.85%.
In terms of corporate earnings announcements, American retailer Targa reported disappointing results and lowered its full-year forecast due to uncertainty and tariffs, causing the stock to fall more than 7% at the beginning of the session.
In contrast, shares of Xpeng, a company specializing in the manufacture of electric vehicles, rose more than 15% after the company announced better-than-expected first-quarter earnings, with revenues rising 141% to $2.18 billion.
Shares of UnitedHealth continued to decline, losing more than 8% after a report revealed that the healthcare company secretly paid thousands of dollars to nursing homes to help reduce the costs of transporting patients to hospitals. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow) is trading down approximately (289) points at 42,387, with losses of approximately 0.68%, while the S&P 500 Index (S&P 500) is recording losses of 32 points at 5,907, with a decline of approximately 0.55%, and the Nasdaq Index (Nasdaq) is declining by (88) points at 19,084, with losses of approximately 0.31%.