For Friday, May 23rd, 2025
>>Stocks Close Mixed (New York, NY) -- Wall Street closed Thursday with stocks mixed. It comes as investors tried to brush off fears of a growing U.S. deficit. It's also as the 30-year Treasury yield touched its highest level since October 2023. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by one point to 41-859. The S&P 500 fell by two points to 58-42. The Nasdaq gained 53 points to 18-925.
>>Big Beautiful Bill Impact On Bonds And Interest
(Undated) -- Interest rates are spiking due to the potential cost of President Trump's major policy bill. According to Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller, the cost of the bill caught the bond market off-guard and impacted interest rates. It comes as yields on U.S. Treasury bonds have soared throughout the week as lawmaker advanced the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Waller says "the markets are watching the fiscal policy, and they have some concerns about whether it's going to be reducing the deficit."
>>Hundreds Of Crypto Investors Show Up For Trump Meme Coin Dinner
(Sterling, VA) -- Over 200 crypto investors showed up for Donald Trump's gala dinner promoting his new meme coin. The event was held Thursday night at Trump's golf course near Washington, DC, where investors had to buy the President's $TRUMP cryptocurrency in order to gain entrance. Investors at the dinner reportedly spent about 148-million dollars on the Trump crypto. About 100 protesters had gathered outside the club entrance holding signs accusing the President of corruption. One of the protesters was Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who called the event "the crypto corruption club."
>>Existing Home Sales Down
(Washington, DC) -- Sales of existing homes fell again in April, while median prices rose. According to the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales were down two-percent from April of last year, and also down compared to March. But the reports adds the median sale price last month was 414-thousand dollars, the highest for any April on record. Experts say high interest rates and financial uncertainty among house hunters is driving the drop.
>>Tech Hiring Declines
(Austin, TX) -- A new report shows that employment is down at both big tech firms and startups in Austin, Texas. Heather Doshay with the venture-capital firm SignalFire says, as businesses relocate back to the coasts, the jobs are leaving too. Employees are being told to show up to the office at least a few days a week. And, without that critical mass of tech workers, start-ups are having trouble attracting workers to Austin, too.
>>Treasury Department Penny Production Halt
(Washington, DC) -- The Treasury Department is halting its production of new pennies. The department said Thursday it made its final order of blank pennies this month as its moves to end production of the one-cent coin. According to the 2024 annual report from the Mint, the cost of making the penny increased 20-percent and the Treasury Department says halting new penny production could lead to "immediate annual savings of 56-million-dollars in reduced material costs." There are more than 114 billion pennies currently in circulation, however, demand for the penny has drastically decreased as Americans increasingly shift their payment habits to cards or digital services like Apple Pay.
