WALL Street stocks fell again yesterday on rising anxiety over US debt ceiling talks as a critical deadline nears without an agreement.

President Joe Biden offered to freeze government spending at current levels, a move that would reduce the deficit by US$1 trillion (RM4.6 trillion) and marks a concession to congressional Republicans.

The US government could run out of money to pay for its existing obligations as early as June 1, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

“Everyone has seen this movie before and now we are finally starting to see some market stress as debt-ceiling talks remain at an impasse,” said Oanda’s Edward Moya.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.8% to 32,799.92.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.7% to 4,115.24, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.6% to 12,484.16.

Minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting showed economists at the central bank still expected a “mild recession” earlier this month.

“Real GDP was projected to decelerate over the next two quarters before declining modestly in both the fourth quarter of this year and the first quarter of next year,” according to the Fed. 

Among individual companies, Citigroup rose 1.3% as it announced a plan to spin off its Mexican consumer banking unit Banamex in a public offering. 

Cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks advanced 7.7% as it reported a 24% jump in quarterly revenues and lifted some of its full-year profit benchmarks.

Retailers Abercrombie & Fitch and Kohl’s both surged following better than expected results, with Abercrombie rising more than 31% and Kohl’s 7.6%. – AFP, May 25, 2023.