US stocks were mixed on Wednesday as cryptocurrencies surged, with Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) rallying to a fresh record of over $109,000, and bond yields continued to climb. Investors weighed a flare-up in US-China tensions over chips and assessed retail earnings highlighted by Target ( TGT ) for insight into the economic impact of President Trump's tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI ) fell about 0.8%. The S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) slipped about 0.2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ( ^IXIC ) rose about 0.3%. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq staged a rebound in the late morning as tech stocks led the indexes off their session lows.
Markets are reassessing, with the S&P 500 snapping a six-day run of gains as relief over the surprise US-China trade truce faded. Meanwhile, growing concern about the US deficit and ballooning debt has intensified attention on discussions around Trump's tax-and-spending bill.
Markets are keeping a close eye on Trump's giant tax bill, as Republicans try to appease all factions of their splintered caucus. Anxieties about the budget bill and the US debt have helped push up US bond yields . The 30-year Treasury yield ( ^TYX ) jumped back above the key 5% level on Wednesday, with 10-year yields ( ^TNX ) back above 4.5%.
Meanwhile, the US and China have begun feuding over chips again, less than two weeks after agreeing a temporary pause in tariff hostilities. The Trump administration's warnings against using AI chips by Huawei have undermined the recent trade talks in Geneva, China said — putting the fragile trade deal at risk and reviving worries about economic fallout.
Read more: The latest on Trump's tariffs
Tariffs are in focus for Target's first quarter results, after Trump told retailers they need to "eat" the costs of duties and not pass them on to customers .
The discount retailer missed badly on quarterly earnings and cut its full-year outlook, but its top executives repeatedly declined to say whether Target will follow Walmart ( WMT ) in passing on costs of tariffs via price hikes.
Currency concerns also have alarm bells ringing as the US dollar fell to a two-week low with traders eyeing the ongoing G-7 meeting for signs the Trump administration may favor a weaker currency.
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