Stocks were largely unchanged on Tuesday as the market weighed the latest corporate earnings and digested the geopolitical sentiment as S&P Global Ratings affirmed its credit rating of the U.S. economy.
Summary
- Stocks opened mixed but largely unchanged amid investors’ focus on Home Depot earnings.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged slightly up while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hovered at the flatline.
- S&P Global Ratings has affirmed its AA+ credit rating for the United States economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was slightly up with 76 points, or 0.17%, while the benchmark index S&P 500 traded just below the flat line. Nasdaq Composite, which, like the S&P 500, had notched gains to a record high in recent weeks, also opened little changed with major tech stocks cooling off their recent price rallies.
While Home Depot’s earnings results failed to inspire as the home improvement chain’s profit missed estimates, its shares jumped on the company’s full-year outlook. This sees Wall Street keen on upcoming reports by Target and Walmart.
Also crucial this week is Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks at the Jackson Hole symposium. Per the CME FedWatch tool, investors have odds of a Fed rate cut in September at 83%
On the geopolitical front, President Donald Trump’s push for a peace deal for Ukraine has investors watching, although Trump’s meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, and European leaders failed to provide certainty.
S&P affirms U.S. credit rating
Stocks are mostly upbeat as major U.S. gauges hold near their record highs. However, action was largely muted as ratings firm S&P Global Ratings provided an update to its credit rating for the United States.
Although S&P notes tariffs are likely to help the U.S. fiscal health amid Trump’s tax cuts, the outlook remains that the credit rating for the U.S. is AA+. S&P Global has given this rating for the United States since 2011, having downgraded it from AAA at the time.
The U.S. has seen its perfect credit rating slip after top ratings firms downgraded it. In May 2025, top firm Moody’s lowered its rating for the country from ‘AAA’ to ‘Aa1’. At the time, Moody’s noted concerns around debt deficit and interest costs. Fitch Ratings also downgraded the U.S. from a triple-A rating in 2023.
The 10-year and 30-year Treasury yields dropped after the S&P Global’s report to hover around 4.32% and 4.91% respectively.
Elsewhere, the crypto market saw Bitcoin (BTC) bounce off lows of $114k.
