Stock Market Today: Walmart and jobs data disappoints; stocks face declines originally appeared on TheStreet.
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Good morning. This is TheStreet’s Stock Market Today for Aug. 21, 2025. The stock market is now open. You can follow along all day with today’s biggest updates here, on our daily live blog.
This morning stocks are trending to the downside after Walmart reported earnings and economic data has disappointed. Now that the bell has rung, here’s what you to know this A.M:
A few moments ago, we were treated to the first major economic data point of the day when Initial and Continuing Jobless Claims dropped. Both figures rose, indicating further labor market deterioration:
Initial Jobless Claims: 235,000 [Prev: 224,000] [Consensus: 225,000]
Continuing Jobless Claims: 1.972 million [Prev: 1.942 million]
The Philadelphia Fed also released a slew of data points, including the heavily-watched Manufacturing Index, which declined significantly month-over-month. Here’s the print for those various data points:
Manufacturing Index -0.3 [Prev: 15.9] [Consensus: 7]
Future CAPEX Index: 38.4 [Prev: 17.1]
Employment: 5.9 [Prev: 10.3]
New Orders: -1.9 [Prev: 18.4]
Prices Paid: 66.8 [Prev: 58.8]
Taken together, these figures were okay, but held some disappointing realities about rising prices. The largest consolation is that companies polled by the Philly Fed are still expecting growth, with the future new orders index and shipments index rising to their highest points since May.
In response to the reports, stocks are now plummeting in futures trading. The Russell 2000 (-0.61%), the Dow (-0.42%), and the Nasdaq and S&P 500 (-0.35% each) are all declining in futures.
Boeing (BA) (+1.9% in premarket) is reportedly in talks to sell up to 500 aircraft to China, per Bloomberg. However, the deal is still in the works. A similar deal has been worked…
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