Stock futures moved lower Thursday after major indexes posted steep declines yesterday amid mounting concerns about the federal deficit as a budget bill works its way through Congress.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.5% recently, while those linked to the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq each fell 0.4%. Stocks tumbled on Wednesday while bond yields soared as investors monitored developments on a GOP tax and spending proposal that is expected to dramatically increase the deficit and reacted to a weaker-than-expected auction of Treasury bills.
Early this morning, President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” narrowly passed in the House of Representatives, and it will now head to then Senate. Investors are focused on the deliberations in Congress amid worries about how the budget bill will affect an already unsustainable fiscal situation.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which directly affects borrowing costs on all sorts of consumer and business loans, continued rising this morning, hitting its highest level since mid-February. The yield was at 4.63% recently, up from 4.60% late yesterday and 4.44% at the end of last week.
Shares of the world’s largest technology companies, which had been at the forefront of the market’s recent rally, were mostly lower in premarket trading Thursday. Shares of Tesla (TSLA) fell 2%, while Microsoft (MSFT), Nvidia (NVDA), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META) and Broadcom (AVGO) also lost ground. Alphabet (GOOG), which was the sole mega-cap gainer on Wednesday, was on the rise again today, adding nearly 1%.
UnitedHealth (UNH), which has been battered in recent weeks following the departure of its CEO, the suspension of guidance and reports that it’s the subject of a DOJ probe, continued tumbling this morning. Shares of the health insurance giant, a Dow component, were down more than 3% ahead of the bell.
Crypto-related stocks—including major bitcoin buyer Strategy (MSTR), crypto exchange Coinbase Global (COIN) and bitcoin miner MARA Holdings (MARA)—gained ground as the price of bitcoin continued surging. Bitcoin was recently at $111,200, after hitting a fresh record high of near $112,000 overnight. The digital currency hit a record high yesterday for the first time since just before President Trump took office in January.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the performance of the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, was recently up 0.2% at 99.72.
Gold futures were down 0.2% at $3,305 an ounce, after rising for three straight days as some investors turned to the traditional safe haven asset amid the downturn in equities. West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, slipped 1.5% to $60.65 per barrel.