How major US stock indexes fared Wednesday, 8/20/2025

Key Points

• Wall Street ended lower on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 slipping 0.2% and the Nasdaq composite falling 0.7%.
• The day's fluctuations were largely influenced by technology stocks and concerns over their high valuations driven by artificial-intelligence enthusiasm.
• The S&P 500 has seen a weekly decline of 0.8%, while it remains up 8.7% year-to-date.
• The Russell 2000 index, indicating performance of smaller companies, declined 0.3% on Wednesday and has a year-to-date increase of 1.8%.

Wall Street ended lower on more declines in technology stocks, but the market pared its losses in the afternoon.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% Wednesday after trimming a loss that reached 1.1% earlier in the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.7%.

The day’s action again centered around stocks caught up in the mania around artificial-intelligence technology. These stocks are facing criticism that their prices shot too high, too fast and became too expensive. Several big U.S. retailers including Target turned in mixed financial results.

On Wednesday:

The S&P 500 fell 15.59 points, or 0.2%, to 6,395.78.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 16.04 points, or less than 0.1%, to 44,938.31.

The Nasdaq composite fell 142.10 points, or 0.7%, to 21,172.86.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 7.25 points, or 0.3%, to 2,269.35.

For the week:

The S&P 500 is down 54.02 points, or 0.8%.

The Dow is down 7.81 points, or less than 0.1%.

The Nasdaq is down 450.12 points, or 2.1%.

The Russell 2000 is down 17.17 points, or 0.8%.

For the year:

The S&P 500 is up 514.15 points, or 8.7%.

The Dow is up 2,394.09 points, or 5.6%.

The Nasdaq is up 1,862.06 points, or 9.6%.

The Russell 2000 is up 39.19 points, or 1.8%.