How major US stock indexes fared Thursday, 7/31/2025

Key Points

• The major US stock indexes closed lower on Thursday, with the S&P 500 down 0.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing 0.7%.
• Health care stocks were significantly impacted after the White House urged pharmaceutical companies to lower prices within 60 days.
• Meta Platforms outperformed expectations, significantly exceeding Wall Street's sales and profit targets while investing heavily in artificial intelligence.
• Year-to-date, the S&P 500 is up 7.8%, while the Russell 2000 has declined 0.8% this year.

Stocks gave up early gains and closed lower on Wall Street, led by drops in health care companies.

The S&P 500 fell 0.4% Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped less than 0.1%.

Health care stocks sank after the White House released letters asking big pharmaceutical companies to cut prices and make other changes in the next 60 days. Meta Platforms surged after the parent company of Facebook and Instagram crushed Wall Street’s sales and profit targets even as the company continues to pour billions of dollars into artificial intelligence.

On Thursday:

The S&P 500 fell 23.51 points, or 0.4%, to 6,339.39.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 330.30 points, or 0.7%, to 44,130.98.

The Nasdaq composite fell 7.23 points, or less than 0.1%, to 21,122.45.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 20.75 points, or 0.9%, to 2,211.65.

For the week:

The S&P 500 is down 49.25 points, or 0.8%.

The Dow is down 770.94 points, or 1.7%.

The Nasdaq is up 14.13 points, or 0.1%.

The Russell 2000 is down 49.42 points, or 2.2%.

For the year:

The S&P 500 is up 457.76 points, or 7.8%.

The Dow is up 1,586.76 points, or 3.7%.

The Nasdaq is up 1,811.66 points, or 9.4%.

The Russell 2000 is down 18.51 points, or 0.8%.