S&P 500, NASDAQ FALL AS US SLOWDOWN FEARS PERSIST
The S&P 500 SPX and the Nasdaq composite 
IXIC are on the defensive once again on Monday after briefly trading higher, pressured by mounting worries that the world’s largest economy is slowing down and could well dip into a full-blown recession. That said, no one is predicting a recession right now, but all the signs are pointing to a looming downturn.
Wall Street’s major indexes posted weekly losses on Friday, after a slew of soft economic reports and a downbeat forecast from Walmart 
WMT sparked concerns that the U.S. economy is stalling. The benchmark S&P 500 and the small-cap Russell 2000 index 
RUT marked their worst daily declines of 2025.
The Russell 2000 index is currently down 0.8% on Monday.
The Dow 
DJI, meanwhile, is clinging to a small gain
“Speaking of cautious, six consecutive weekly declines in Treasury yields coupled with an official -10% correction in the economically-sensitive small cap Russell 2000 index is telling you a thing or two about how corners of the market are feeling about the economic outlook,” writes David Rosenberg, founder and chief economist at Rosenberg Research in a note to clients.
He adds that most inflation- and economic-centric stocks in the S&P 500 have also shed more than 5% from the recent highs.
“The only reason why the U.S. economy has hung it together has nothing to do with anything exceptional and everything to do with the five years of fiscal support… alongside the ‘wealth effect’ on spending.”
The main event this week will be Friday’s release of the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, for more confirmation of the central bank’s rate path.
The U.S. rate futures market has priced in about 48 basis points (bps) of easing this year or almost two rate cuts of 25 bps. Last week, traders in Fed funds futures factored 38 bps of rate reductions.
Here is a midmorning financial market snapshot:
(Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss)
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FOR MONDAY’S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:
IMMIGRATION RESTRICTIONS COULD BE JUST AS CONSEQUENTIAL AS TARIFFS – MORGAN STANLEY – CLICK HERE
S&P 500 INDEX TESTS TREND LINE, TAKES ANOTHER TUMBLE – CLICK HERE
MORE EUROPEAN DEFENCE SPENDING, BUY THE SWEDISH CROWN – CLICK HERE
US EXCEPTIONALISM UNDER THREAT? – CLICK HERE
BANKS BEAT ON PRE-TAX PROFITS FOR 18TH STRAIGHT EARNINGS SEASON – CLICK HERE
MARKETS TAKE THE POSITIVES FROM GERMAN ELECTION – CLICK HERE
EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: BUY THE RUMOUR, BUY THE FACT – CLICK HERE
MORNING BID: RELIEF AS GERMAN VOTE DODGES EXTREMES – CLICK HERE
