Dow falls 100 points Friday after GOP negotiators halt debt ceiling talks: Live updates
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on May 17, 2023 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Stocks fell Friday, GOP negotiators halted ongoing debt ceiling negotiations, stoking doubt of a deal being reached soon.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 115 points, or 0.33%. The S&P 500 traded 0.2% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.29%.
Those moves come after GOP negotiators on Friday walked out of a debt ceiling meeting, with Rep. Garret Graves saying the White House team is “unreasonable,” according to NBC News. “We’re not going to sit here and talk to ourselves,” Graves said.
Friday’s losses were kept in check, however, after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said interest rates may not have to rise as much as expected to quell inflation.
“Markets have had a fairly constructive week, and were trading better as in the early hours of today’s trading day, in large part due to a more constructive or positive sentiment around the debt ceiling negotiations. And that took a little bit of a bump in the road [today] as the negotiations have taken a pause,” said B. Riley Financial’s Art Hogan.
“I don’t think that is the end. But I certainly think that going into the weekend, with any uncertainty about the debt ceiling, it’s going to cause a bit of a sell off,” Hogan said.
The major averages remained on track for weekly gains. The S&P 500 is up 1.7% week to date. That would be its biggest one-week advance since March. The Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, has risen 3.1% for the week. That would also be its best weekly performance since March. The Dow is up 0.4%.
A chunk of those gains came Thursday, as traders mounted bets that a U.S. debt ceiling deal could be reached. Comments from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Thursday seemed to suggest a potential deal could come as soon as next week.
