Wall Street Slips as the Trump Trade Cools

Economy

By Associated Press

Published 8 months ago on

November 12, 2024

Wall Street loses steam as the "Trump trade" momentum fades, with major indexes slipping and smaller companies giving back gains. (AP/Richard Drew)

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies slipped 1.5%, reflecting a pullback in the "America First" trade.
Bitcoin soared to a record high of $89,995 before retreating, as Trump embraces cryptocurrencies and pledges support.
Treasury yields rallied, with the 10-year yield climbing to 4.42%, as traders reassess Fed rate cut expectations.

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NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are slipping Tuesday as some momentum comes out of the torrid “Trump trade” that swept Wall Street following Donald Trump’s presidential victory.

The S&P 500 was 0.3% lower in afternoon trading, coming off its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 242 points, or 0.6%, as of 12:03 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.2%.

Trump Trade Loses Steam

Stocks have been broadly rising on expectations that Trump’s preference for lower tax rates and other policies will mean faster economic growth, as well as bigger U.S. government debt and higher inflation. Some areas of the market have launched on particularly high-grade fuel, such as smaller U.S. stocks seen as benefiting the most from Trump’s America First ideas.

They gave back some of their big gains on Tuesday, and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies slipped 1.5%. Even Tesla, which is run by Trump’s ally Elon Musk, sank. It fell 3.7% and was on track for its first loss since before Election Day last week.

The stock that’s become most entwined with Trump’s popularity, Trump Media & Technology Group, fell 8.2%.

Some Companies Buck the Trend

Helping to offset such losses was Live Nation Entertainment, which joined the lengthening list of U.S. companies delivering stronger profit for the summer than analysts expected. The company behind Ticketmaster said concert fans around the world are spending more to hear artists, and it said trends are already encouraging for 2025 stadium tours for Coldplay and others. Its stock rose 4.5%.

Tyson Foods jumped 8.6% after likewise topping analysts’ forecasts for profit. The producer of beef, chicken and pork also raised its dividend for investors.

Home Depot pulled back 0.8% despite beating analysts’ profit expectations, as it continues to contend with a pullback in spending by customers.

Mosaic fell 8.2% after the producer of crop fertilizers reported weaker profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also named a new chief financial officer.

Crypto and Bond Markets React

In the crypto market, bitcoin soared to another record before pulling back. Trump has embraced cryptocurrencies generally and pledged to make his country the crypto capital of the world. Bitcoin got as high as $89,995, according to CoinDesk, before dropping back toward $87,000. It started the year below $43,000.

In the bond market, Treasury yields rallied as trading of U.S. government bonds resumed following Monday’s Veterans Day holiday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.42% from 4.31% late Friday.

Treasury yields have climbed sharply since September, in large part because the U.S. economy has remained much more resilient than feared. The hope is that it can continue to stay solid as the Federal Reserve continues to cut interest rates in order to keep the job market humming, now that it’s helped get inflation nearly down to its 2% target.

Some of the rise in yields has also been because of Trump. He talks up tariffs and other policies that economists say could drive inflation and the U.S. government’s debt higher, along with the economy’s growth.

Traders have already begun paring forecasts for how many cuts to rates the Fed will deliver next year because of that. While lower rates can boost the economy, they can also give inflation more fuel.

The next update on inflation will arrive on Wednesday, when the U.S. government gives the latest reading on prices that U.S. consumers are paying. Economists expect it to show inflation accelerated a bit to 2.6% in October from 2.4% the month before. But they’re looking for underlying inflation trends, which ignore prices for groceries and fuel that can jump sharply from month to month, to stay steady at 3.3%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 2.8% for one of the worst falls. The Hang Seng closed below the 20,000 level for the first time since China announced a stimulus package in September.