Wall Street Stalls As Yields Rise, Bitcoin Breaks Records Above $109,000: What's Driving Markets Wednesday?

Author: Piero Cingari | May 21, 2025 01:14pm

U.S. equities trading was mixed on Wednesday, with major indices showing limited movement by midday as investors remained cautious amid renewed concerns over fiscal policy, which pressured Treasury bonds and the dollar.

The S&P 500 hovered near 5,930, little changed on the day, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.7% amid weakness in blue-chip stocks. In contrast, the Nasdaq 100 advanced 0.5%, led by a 4.6% rally in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG), which extended gains following its annual I/O developer conference.

Google unveiled a series of AI initiatives, highlighting that its Gemini assistant now boasts over 400 million monthly active users and delivers AI Overviews to more than 1.5 billion people. The company also touted Gemini 2.5 Pro's performance leadership in industry benchmarks.

Bond markets faced renewed selling pressure, with the 30-year Treasury yield surging to 5.02% — the highest in nearly two months — as traders digested the potential fiscal implications of President Donald Trump‘s proposed "One Big Beautiful Bill," which economists say could further worsen the U.S. deficit outlook.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) stole the spotlight, surging past its previous record to hit an intraday high of $109,500, buoyed by news that JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) will allow clients to buy Bitcoin, though without offering custody services.

In commodities, oil prices eased 0.6% to $61.50 per barrel after an overnight spike triggered by unconfirmed reports of an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. Gold rose 0.5% to $3,310 per ounce, marking its highest level since May 11.

Wednesday’s Performance In Major U.S. Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	1-day % chg.
Nasdaq 100	21,474.58	0.5%
S&P 500	5,936.07	-0.1%
Dow Jones	42,379.01	-0.7%
Russell 2000	2,084.27	-1.0%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) inched 0.2% down to $591.96.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) fell 0.7% to $423.84.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) rose 0.4% to $522.58.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) sunk 1% to $207.08.
• The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLC) outperformed, up 0.6%; the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV) lagged, down 1.2%.

Wednesday’s Stock Movers

• Keysight Technologies Inc. (NYSE:KEYS) rose 3.3% in reaction to earnings.
• Other stocks reacting to earnings included TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX), down 2.33; Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW), down 1.23%; Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT), down 0.93%; Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT), down 4.12%; VF Corporation (NYSE:VFC), down 12.04%, FLEX LNG Ltd. (NYSE:FLNG), down 7.27%.
• Stocks slated to report earnings after the close include Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ:URBN), Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZM), Snowflake Inc. (NYSE:SNOW) and Domo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DOMO).

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  Photo Courtesy: Antonio Gravante via Shutterstock
  

Posted In: $BTC DIA DOMO FLNG GOOG GOOGL IWM JPM KEYS LOW MDT QQQ SNOW SPY TGT TJX URBN VFC XLC XLV