Dow Futures Decline On Moody’s Ratings Downgrade: Walmart Stock Falls Premarket After Trump’s Criticism

U.S. stocks are set for a weak opening on Monday after Moody’s downgraded the country's debt rating on Friday, highlighting the risks associated with the federal government’s ballooning budget deficit.

Moody’s is the last among its peers to downgrade the U.S. credit rating—in a note on Friday, the brokerage slashed the rating one notch to Aa1 from Aaa.

“This one-notch downgrade on our 21-notch rating scale reflects the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns,” the firm said in its ratings action announcement.

While Dow Jones futures were down by 0.70% at the time of writing, the S&P 500 futures fell 1.10%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100’s futures declined 1.43%. Futures of the Russell 2000 index were down by 1.40%.

The 30-year treasury yield surged 12 basis points to 5.023% on Monday, while the 10-year yield rose 10 basis points to hover at 4.546%.

Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) was down by 1.06% on Monday morning, while Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) fell 1.42%.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell 0.85% in the past 24 hours.

Asian markets ended Monday’s trading session on a negative note, with the TWSE Capitalization Weighted Stock index falling 1.49%, followed by KOSPI at 0.90%.

The Nikkei 225 declined 0.68%, while Hang Seng fell 0.05%. The Shanghai Composite index closed the session flat.

Analyst Says Moody’s Downgrade Won’t Impact Markets

Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group, said that the Moody’s rating action won’t impact the equity markets, striking a contrasting note to the negative sentiment reflected by futures contracts on Monday morning.

He also noted that the S&P 500 index is up over 19% in the past 27 trading sessions. Detrick pointed out that, according to historical trends, the index gains over 30% within a year after such a surge.

“I know the angry (and usually wrong) economist told you big rallies like this only happen in bear markets and recessions, but it simply isn't true,” Detrick said in a post on X.

Walmart shares fell nearly 1.90% in pre-market trading on Monday after President Donald Trump attacked the company over the weekend over tariff-related price hikes.

“Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, “EAT THE TARIFFS,” and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. “I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

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