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Stocks fell Wednesday as investors kept an eye on the federal debt ceiling debate in Washington on the final trading day of May.
The Dow Jones Industrials dumped 134.51 points to close Wednesday at 32,908.27.
The Dow fell almost 3.5% in the month, pulled down by losses greater than 10% from Nike, Walt Disney, Walgreens, 3M, Chevron and Dow, Inc.
The S&P 500 fell 26.59 points to 4,179.83. The much-broader index added nearly 0.3% in the month, despite at one point relinquishing its month-to-date gains during Wednesday’s selloff.
The NASDAQ tumbled 82.14 points to 12,935.28. The tech-heavy index finished the month 5.8% higher, helped by a rally in artificial intelligence-related stocks and other technology names.
President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced a deal over the weekend to cap federal baseline spending for two years and raise the debt ceiling, but the agreement has not yet been ratified.
The deal cleared a major test Tuesday night after advancing to the House floor following a seven-to-six vote in the House Rules Committee.
The floor vote is expected to take place around 8:30 p.m. ET Wednesday.
The outperformance of the tech-heavy NASDAQ is due in large part to the excitement around artificial intelligence, which briefly pushed Nvidia’s market cap above $1 trillion on Tuesday. However, many on Wall Street are worried that the market’s strength has been too narrow.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury inched higher, lowering yields to 3.64% from Tuesday’s 3.68%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slipped $1.59 to $67.87 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices acquired $4.50 to $1,981.60 U.S. an ounce.
