The New York stock market closed mixed on Thursday.
Although declining U.S. Treasury yields initially calmed investor nerves, the market took a bearish turn in the final hours.
Only the Nasdaq managed a modest gain, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both closed slightly lower.
Wall Street’s Mixed Finish
Both the Dow and S&P 500 started strong but turned to losses towards the close.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 1.35 points (0.00%) to 41,859.09, while the S&P 500 shed 2.60 points (0.04%) to end at 5,842.01.
However, the Nasdaq climbed 53.09 points (0.28%) to finish at 18,925.73.
Fiscal Deficit Worries Linger
The upward trend in Treasury yields stabilized.
The 30-year Treasury yield fell 0.045 percentage points to 5.044%, while the benchmark 10-year yield dropped 0.064 percentage points to 4.533%.
Despite the drop, both yields remained above key psychological resistance levels of 4% and 4.5%.
Concerns over the U.S. budget bill, which passed the House today, were high in the market.
While tax cuts and deregulation could benefit stocks in the long run, fears persisted that expanded defense spending will further increase the budget deficit.
The U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cautioned that the budget plan, which U.S. President Donald Trump called big and beautiful, could add 4 trillion USD to the U.S. deficit.
Quantum Computing Stocks Soar
Quantum computing stocks saw a remarkable surge.
The rally was sparked by IonQ CEO Niccolo de Masi’s claim in an interview with Barron’s, stating that IonQ would become the Nvidia of the quantum computing industry.
IonQ shares skyrocketed 12.25 USD (36.52%) to 45.79 USD, while Rigetti jumped 2.90 USD (26.46%) to 13.86 USD.
D-Wave Quantum surged 3.68 USD (23.96%) to 19.04 USD, and Quantum Computing climbed 1.53 USD (14.52%) to 12.07 USD.
Solar Sector Takes a Hit
Solar companies faced a harsh setback.
The House-passed budget bill revealed more severe cuts to solar support than initially feared.
Guggenheim analyst Joseph Osha warned that about 70% of solar firms currently rely on government loans under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). He assessed that the new budget bill cutting almost all of the IRA could have a severe impact.
Sunrun’s stock plummeted 3.95 USD (37.05%) to 6.71 USD, while Enphase Energy tumbled 9.28 USD (19.63%) to 38.01 USD.
SolarEdge Technologies nosedived 4.90 USD (24.67%) to 14.95 USD, and First Solar slid 7.02 USD (4.30%) to 156.35 USD.
Only Apple Declines Among M7
Among the Magnificent Seven tech stocks, only Apple ended in the red.
Apple shares dipped 0.73 USD (0.36%) to close at 201.36 USD.
In contrast, Tesla gained 6.42 USD (1.92%) to 341.04 USD, while Nvidia, set to report its quarterly earnings after the bell on May 28, edged up 1.03 USD (0.78%) to 132.83 USD.
Microsoft rose 2.29 USD (0.51%) to 454.86 USD, and Alphabet advanced 1.92 USD (1.13%) to 171.98 USD.
Amazon climbed 1.98 USD (0.98%) to 203.10 USD, while Meta Platforms inched up 1.07 USD (0.17%) to 636.57 USD.
