Wall Street holds at a standstill near its record heights
[August 19, 2025] By
STAN CHOE
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street held near its record heights on Monday,
ahead of a week likely to be dominated by updates from the head of the
Federal Reserve and from some of the biggest U.S. retailers.
The S&P 500 barely budged and fell by less than 0.1%, coming off its
first loss after setting an all-time high in three consecutive days. The
Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 33 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq
composite edged up by less than 0.1%.
Novo Nordisk’s stock that trades in the United States rose 3.7% after
the Danish company said U.S. regulators approved its Wegovy drug as part
of a treatment for a liver disease found in many overweight and obese
people.
Soho House, a membership club with locations around the world, jumped
14.9% after announcing a deal where an investor group led by
hotel-operator MCR would pay $9 in cash for its shares.
Several of the country’s largest retailers, meanwhile, were mixed ahead
of their profit reports that are scheduled for later in the week. Home
Depot, which will report on Tuesday, slipped 1.2%.
Target rose 1.9% ahead of its report on Wednesday, and Walmart added
0.7% before its report on Thursday.
They, along with companies like Estee Lauder and Ross Stores, could
offer a look at how different types of U.S. households are holding up
when the job market seems to have morphed into one where relatively few
workers are getting fired but also hired.
Just like a small group of wealthy households are separating from the
rest of the country, a handful of Big Tech companies are dominating the
U.S. stock market, in part because of a boom in spending around
artificial-intelligence technology.
This separation of “haves” and “have nots” in the stock market could be
increasing the risk, with many companies potentially facing trouble if
the economy stagnates and inflation is high, according to Lisa Shalett,
chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. The danger
is that investors could look at how much the broad S&P 500 index has
surged since its low point in April and “extrapolate the success of the
few to the gains of the many.”
On Friday, the focus will swing to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which has been
the home in past years of many big policy announcements from the Federal
Reserve. There, Fed Chair Jerome Powell will give a speech, and
investors are hoping to hear how his mind has changed about interest
rates since he said last month that he wanted to wait longer before
cutting interest rates.
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Traders Drew Cohen, left, and Ryan Falvey work on the floor of the
New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard
Drew)
 The fear at that time was that
President Donald Trump’s tariffs could push inflation higher. Now,
though, the bigger fear could be the slowing U.S. job market
following a disappointingly weak report on employment that arrived
just after the Fed’s last meeting.
The Fed’s twin jobs are to keep the job market healthy while also
maintaining a lid on inflation, and helping one can often hurt the
other in the short term. Lower rates can boost the economy by making
it cheaper for U.S. households and businesses to borrow to buy
houses, cars or equipment, for example, but they also risk worsening
inflation.
Inflation updates since the Fed’s last meeting have come in mixed,
further muddying the picture, but traders are nevertheless strongly
expecting the Fed to cut its main interest rate for the first time
this year at its next meeting in September. The hope is that Powell
could give a nod to that.
Expectations for cuts to interest rates have pulled Treasury yields
lower lately, and they largely remained there on Monday.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury held at 4.33%, where it was late
Friday.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 edged down 0.65 to 6,449.15. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average slipped 34.30 to 44,911.82, and the Nasdaq
composite added 6.80 to 21,629.77.
In stock markets abroad, indexes mostly fell in Europe in their
first trading after Trump’s inconclusive summit meeting with Russian
President Vladimir Putin on Friday about the war in Ukraine. Trump
met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday.
In Asia, indexes were mixed, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 rising 0.8% and
South Korea’s Kospi falling 1.5%.
___
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
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