U.S. Stocks Advance After Investors Return from Juneteenth Holiday

Barry Adams
20 Jun, 2025
New York City

Investors remained jittery as the Middle East conflict showed no sign of cooling, and the U.S. mulled joining Israel's attacks into Iran. 

Investors bid up stocks after returning from the Juneteenth holiday amid lingering geopolitical tensions and a lack of progress on global tariffs. 

The S&P 500 index edged up 0.2%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.1%, and the U.S. dollar index traded near a multi-month low.

A White House official confirmed that the U.S. president is reviewing possibilities of assisting Israel in attacking Iran's nuclear infrastructure located deep beneath the surface and targeting government officials. 

Crude oil prices edged lower, as the U.S. president may take as long as two weeks to finalize his decision. 

Middle East experts are signaling that the U.S. is likely to continue to provide overt and covert assistance to Israel's attacks and provide the military and intelligence support needed to carry out attacks targeting underground nuclear infrastructure as early as next week. 

For the week, as of the close of Thursday's trading, the S&P 500 index decreased 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.2%. 

 

Commodities, Currencies, Indexes, Yields

The S&P 500 index increased 0.2% to 5,990.72, the Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.1% to 19,564.39, and the Russell 2000 index advanced 0.5% to 2,122.95.

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes edged higher to 3.95%, 10-year Treasury notes increased to 4.42%, and 30-year Treasury bonds advanced to 4.93%.

WTI crude oil decreased $0.28 to $73.22 a barrel, and natural gas prices edged lower by $0.12 to $3.96 a thermal unit.

Gold decreased by $0.84 to $3,368.54 an ounce, and silver edged down by $0.42 to $35.98.

The dollar index, which weighs the US currency against a basket of foreign currencies, decreased by 0.18 to 98.73 and traded at the lowest level since April 2022.

 

U.S. Stock Movers 

CarMax Inc. jumped 10.5% to $70.91 after the used-car retailer reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results. 

Revenue in the quarter increased to $7.55 billion, and diluted earnings per share advanced to $1.38. 

Darden Restaurants increased 3.8% to $231.25 after the parent company of Olive Garden reported better-than-expected revenue in the fiscal first quarter of $3.3 billion. 

However, operating earnings declined 3.2% to $444.1 million, and the company guided diluted earnings per share in the fiscal year 2026 to range between $10.50 and $10.70. 

Kroger Company declined 0.3% to $65.35, and the largest independent grocery chain operator reported fiscal first quarter flat sales of $45.2 billion and diluted earnings per share of $1.29. 

Net earnings attributable to shareholders decreased to $866 million from $956 million a year ago. 

Accenture Plc decreased 5% to $291.0, and the technology and business outsourcing services provider reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, but new orders fell short of expectations.