Wall Street ends mixed in the face of mounting uncertainties

Wall Street ends mixed in the face of mounting uncertainties

By Stephen Culp

Tue February 25, 2025 4:23 PM

It was another very choppy day as uncertainties mounted and, as nerves go, the Dow benefitted up some 160 points while tech suffered, the Nasdaq down 260. The S&P and Nasdaq both touched one-month lows as well as suffering four consecutive sessions in the red. Today’s consumer confidence data spooked everyone as it confirmed that Joe Citizen expected the economy and inflation to get worse under Trump’s policies and small businesses cutting back on capital expenditures in direct proportion to the rise in uncertainty. The U of M confidence index plummeted from over 85 in November to under 65 now as well as an 11.3% plunge in near-term expectations.  

This is concerning as the consumer supports about 70% of the economy. As today’s expert put it, “This is clearly a risk-off day and a continuation of a risk-off month” while another, “Headlines have been pretty dramatic as consumers and businesses are sitting on their hands. There are just lots of reasons to put off buying things today, including stocks.” The VIX is at its highest level in a month. Nvidia reports on Wednesday, the litmus of the AI craze and the critical metric for how all of tech will go. It plunged 2.8% today indicating not much confidence that good news is coming tomorrow. Volume was above the 15.3 billion average, coming in today at 16.3 billion. 

DJ: 43,461.21  +33.19        NAS: 19,286.93  -237.08      S&P: 5,983.25  -29.88          2/24

DJ: 43,621.16  +159.95      NAS: 19,026.39  -260.54      S&P: 5,955.25  -28.00          2/25

Tue 2-25-25 4:23 pm Wall Street ends mixed in the face of mounting uncertainties | Reuters