Walmart helps pull Wall Street to its 5th straight loss
[August 22, 2025] By
STAN CHOE
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street fell to a fifth straight loss on Thursday,
hurt by a drop for Walmart and dampened hopes for coming cuts to
interest rates.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.4%. All its losses have been relatively modest,
but it has not risen since setting an all-time high last Thursday. The
Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 152 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq
composite fell 0.3%.
Walmart was one of the market’s heaviest weights and dropped 4.5% after
reporting a profit for the spring that came up short of analysts’
expectations, while Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks held a bit steadier
following two days of sharp swings.
The moves were stronger in the bond market, where Treasury yields rose
after a report forced Wall Street to scale back hopes that the Federal
Reserve may soon deliver relief by cutting interest rates.
The report suggested growth in U.S. business activity is accelerating
and hit its fastest rate so far this year. That’s good news for the
economy, but the preliminary data from S&P Global also said tariffs
helped push up average selling prices at the fastest rate in three
years. That’s a discouraging sign for inflation.
Taken all together, such data has historically aligned more with the
Federal Reserve considering a hike in interest rates, rather than a cut,
according to Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global
Market Intelligence.
No one expects a rate hike to happen, but the overwhelming expectation
on Wall Street has been for coming cuts. Traders are betting on a nearly
three-in-four chance that the Fed will lower its main interest rate at
its next meeting in September, according to data from CME Group. The
hope on Wall Street has been that Fed Chair Jerome Powell may give hints
on Friday that easier rates may be coming.
He will be speaking in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, at an annual conference of
central bankers that’s been home to big policy announcements in the
past.
A cut in interest rates would be the first of the year, and it would
give investment prices and the economy a boost by potentially making it
cheaper to borrow to buy cars or equipment. But it could also risk
worsening inflation.
The Fed has been hesitant to cut interest rates this year out of fear
that President Donald Trump’s tariffs could push inflation higher, but a
surprisingly weak report on job growth earlier this month suddenly made
the job market a bigger worry. Trump, meanwhile, has angrily pushed for
cuts to interest rates, often insulting Powell while doing so.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps set rates for mortgages,
rose to 4.32% from 4.29%. The two-year Treasury, which moves more on
expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with short-term
interest rates, climbed to 3.78% from 3.74%.
On Wall Street, Walmart dropped even though it reported encouraging
growth in revenue during the latest quarter and raised its forecast for
profit over its full fiscal year.
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Trader Chris Lagana works on the floor of the New York Stock
Exchange, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
 Analysts said the market’s
expectations were high coming into the report. The Bentonville,
Arkansas, company’s stock came into the day with a gain of 13.5% for
the year so far, more than the rest of the market.
Big Tech stocks are under even more pressure to deliver bigger
profits amid criticism that their stock prices ran too high, too
fast and have become too expensive because of the frenzy around
artificial-intelligence technology.
Several AI superstar stocks have swung sharply this week, taking
some shine off their skyscraping surges for the year, because of
such criticism. But they held a bit steadier on Thursday.
Palantir Technologies, which at one point on Wednesday was on track
to fall more than 9% for a second straight day before paring its
loss, rose 0.1%. Nvidia, the chip company that’s become the poster
child of the AI boom, edged down 0.2%.
Coty tumbled 21.6% after the beauty products company reported a loss
for the latest quarter, when analysts expected a slight profit. The
company, whose brands include CoverGirl and Joop!, said uncertainty
about tariffs and the economy are making retailers cautious in their
orders.
On the winning side of Wall Street was Nordson, which makes products
and systems used for precision dispensing and other things. It
delivered profit and revenue for the latest quarter that topped
analysts’ expectations, and its stock rose 3%.
All told, the S&P 500 slipped 25.61 points to 6,370.17. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average fell 152.81 to 44,785.50, and the Nasdaq
composite sank 72.55 to 21,100.31.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across much of Europe
and Asia.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, saw its DAX return 0.1% after
U.S. and European Union officials offered a framework for their
trade deal.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.6% after a survey showed Japan’s factory
activity contracted again in August.
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AP Writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed.
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