Wall Street Indexes Struggle to Gain Traction, Existing Home Sales Rebound

Barry Adams
20 Mar, 2025
New York City

Stock market indexes struggled to advance in Thursday's trading following a surge in the previous session as investors reviewed major central bank decisions and home sales data. 

The S&P 500 index was nearly flat, and the Nasdaq Composite edged down 0.2%, a day after the Federal Reserve held the fed funds rate range steady. 

Benchmark indexes soared in yesterday's trading after Fed Chair Jerome Powell labeled the Trump administration's tariffs as "transitory" and signaled as many as two rate cuts in 2025. 

The Bank of England held its bank rate steady at 4.5%. The Swiss National Bank lowered its policy rate by 25 basis points to 0.25%, and Sweden's Riksbank held steady its policy rate at 2.25%.

Markets are likely to lack direction over the next two weeks of trading, as investors await the release of details of new tariffs starting April 2 covering shipments from India, Japan, South Korea, and China. 

 

Existing Home Sales Rebound In February, Median Home Price Advances

Investor sentiment was bolstered after existing home sales in February rose by 4.2% from the previous month to an annual pace of 4.26 million, rebounding from the downwardly revised drop of 4.7% in the previous month.

The National Association of Realtors released the monthly sales data on Thursday.

Existing home sales declined 1.2% from a year ago, amid elevated prices, and median home prices rose 3.8% to $398,400, and inventory of unsold homes fell 5.1% from the previous month to 1.24 million, equivalent to 3.5 months of supply at the current sales pace. 

Initial jobless claims for the week ending March 15 totaled 223,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor. 

Continuing claims, which lag by one week, totaled 1.89 million, an increase of 33,000 from the previous week. 

 

Commodities, Currencies, Indexes, Yields

The S&P 500 index decreased 0.1% to 5,666.54, the Nasdaq Composite edged down 0.1% to 17,730.43, and the Russell 2000 index was down 0.6% to 2,068.52.

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes edged lower to 3.95%, 10-year Treasury notes decreased to 4.19%, and 30-year Treasury bonds declined to 4.50%.

WTI crude oil decreased $0.15 to $66.76 a barrel, and natural gas prices edged lower by $0.13 to $4.12 a thermal unit.

Gold decreased by $15.73 to $3,034.31 an ounce, and silver edged down by $0.57 to $33.34.

The dollar index, which weighs the US currency against a basket of foreign currencies, increased 0.65 to 104.08 and traded at a two-year high.

 

U.S. Stock Movers

Darden Restaurants Inc. gained 4.6% to $197.49, and the parent company of Olive Garden and Seasons 52 reported mixed quarterly results. 

The multi-brand restaurant company reported consolidated same-store sales rose 0.7% in the fiscal third quarter ending on February 23.

The company declared a cash dividend of $1.40 per share payable on May 1 to shareholders on record on April 10.

Consolidated sales in the quarter increased to $3.2 billion from $3.0 billion, net income advanced to $323.4 million from $312.9 million, and diluted earnings per share fell to $1.18 from $1.20 a year ago.

The company revised its full-year sales estimate to $12.1 billion and same-store sales increased by 1.5%. 

Additionally, the company tightened its full-year adjusted earnings estimate to between $9.45 and $9.52, from the previous range between $9.40 and $9.60 per share.

Five Below increased 6.5% to $80.57, and the deep discount store chain reported better-than-expected fourth quarter results, but the company's fiscal 2025 estimate included margin contraction driven by higher tariffs.

The company said same-store sales declined 3%, earnings per share was $3.48, and consolidated sales increased 4% to $1.39 billion.

ProAssurance soared 48% to $22.99 after the company agreed to be acquired by the malpractice insurance provider, The Doctor Company, for $25 a share.

Microchip Technology Company declined 5.2% to $51.76 after the advanced semiconductor company announced a convertible stock offering plan of $1.35 billion.

Apple Inc. decreased 0.8% to $213.63, and the company announced an executive shakeup to expedite the implementation of artificial intelligence technology, including its Siri virtual assistant. 

Apple Vision Pro creator Mike Rockwell will take over the leadership position for the company’s AI team, replacing John Giannandrea. 

Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. increased 2% to $198.76 after the Boston Celtics were acquired by an investor group for $6.1 billion, supporting a higher valuation for the National Basketball Association team.

Madison Square Garden Sports owns the New York Knicks and its development league team, and the New York Rangers, the National Hockey League team.