US stocks slip again as Wall Street’s rally loses steam
[September 25, 2025] By
STAN CHOE
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes drifted lower on Wednesday as a
seemingly relentless rally on Wall Street takes at least a pause.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% for a second straight, modest loss. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average dropped 171 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq
composite fell 0.4%. All three are still near their all-time highs,
which were set on Monday.
It’s a slowdown following the U.S. stock market’s blistering run since
hitting a low in April, fueled by hopes that President Donald Trump’s
tariffs won’t derail global trade and that the Federal Reserve will cut
interest rates several times to boost the U.S. economy. The rally was so
big that it raised concerns about stock prices shooting too high and
becoming too expensive, particularly if the Fed does not deliver as many
cuts to rates as traders expect.
Demonstrating the weight of high expectations, Micron Technology’s stock
fell 2.8% even though it reported a better profit and revenue for the
latest quarter than analysts expected. The computer memory company also
gave a forecast for profit in the current quarter that blew past
analysts’ expectations.
Typically, such a performance would send a stock higher. But Micron’s
stock came into the day with an atypical, stunning gain of 97.7% for the
year so far.
Freeport-McMoRan sank 17% for one of the market’s larger losses after
the miner said it expects sales of copper to be 4% lower in the third
quarter than it had earlier forecast. It also said sales of gold will
likely be roughly 6% lower than earlier expected.
On the winning side of Wall Street was Lithium Americas. It soared 95.8%
following reports that the U.S. government is considering taking an
ownership stake in the Canadian company, which is developing a lithium
project in Nevada with General Motors.

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Trader Anthony Confusione works on the floor of the New York Stock
Exchange, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
 Lithium Americas, based in
Vancouver, said it’s in talks with the U.S. Department of Energy and
GM about drawing on a previously announced $2.26 billion loan from
the government. The Energy Department is making “incremental
requests” to add more conditions before Lithium Americas can make
its first draw, among other things, the company said.
Under Trump, the U.S. government has already taken a 10% ownership
stake in Intel, the struggling computer chip company.
Homebuilders also rose after a report said U.S. sales of new homes
were stronger in August than economists had forecast and
unexpectedly accelerated.
Lennar climbed 2%, while PulteGroup and D.R. Horton both added 0.7%.
All told, the S&P 500 fell 18.95 points to 6,637.97. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average dropped 171.50 to 46,121.28, and the Nasdaq
composite sank 75.62 to 22,497.86.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe and Asia. Hong
Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.4%, and France’s CAC 40 fell 0.6% for two
of the bigger moves.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.14%
from 4.12% late Tuesday.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Yuri Kageyama contributed.
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