S&P 500 dips, debt concerns in focus as Trump’s tax bill faces overnight test

NEW YORK: The S&P 500 slipped in volatile trading and Treasury yields rose on Wednesday as US President Donald Trump’s proposed tax-cut law faced a rare overnight hearing aimed at influencing Republican holdouts opposed to the bill’s passage.

The House Rules Committee scheduled an unusual 1 a.m. ET hearing that is expected to run well into daylight hours as Republicans try to overcome internal divisions about cuts to the Medicaid health program and tax breaks in high-cost coastal states.

US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged, however, that a vote by the full chamber might not happen on Wednesday.

Nonpartisan analysts said the proposed plan could add between $3 trillion and $5 trillion to the federal government’s $36.2 trillion debt.

“This tax bill could be a coin toss in its current form; it could go either way,” said Mariam Adams, managing director at UBS Wealth Management.

“It really depends on how much relief the average investor... (is) receiving. If it can impact and give some kind of faith to individual investors, that could give us a really good rally.”

At 11:53 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 332.05 points, or 0.78%, to 42,345.19, the S&P 500 lost 10.06 points, or 0.17%, to 5,930.40, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 70.80 points, or 0.36%, to 19,213.51.

Boosting the Nasdaq, Google-parent Alphabet jumped 4.9%, while Nvidia and Meta Platforms climbed close to 1% each.

Nine of the 11 S&P sub-sectors traded lower, with Health Care being the worst hit.

US bonds have been pressured since the start of the week, when Moody’s downgraded the country’s sovereign credit rating. Yields on the 30-year note were back up to 5.01% on Wednesday, with the benchmark 10-year yield climbing 5.2 basis points to 4.53%.

UnitedHealth Group dropped 4.5% after a Guardian report said the healthcare conglomerate secretly paid nursing homes thousands in bonuses to help reduce hospital transfers for ailing residents. HSBC also downgraded the stock to “reduce” from “hold”.

In earnings, retailer Target fell 3.5% after slashing its annual forecast due to a pullback in discretionary spending.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.76-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.02-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 12 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 41 new highs and 46 new lows.