Wall Street opens lower as investors assess corporate earnings, mixed economic data

Wall Street’s main indexes opened lower on Thursday, as investors digested a slate of corporate earnings, while concerns around U.S. tariffs, surging valuations and mixed economic data kept investors on edge.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 55.9 points, or 0.12%, at the open to 47,255.12. The S&P 500 fell 8.7 points, or 0.13%, at the open to 6,787.59​, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 38.5 points, or 0.16%, to 23,461.289 at the opening bell.

Wall Street lender Goldman Sachs will promote 638 executives to managing directors next year, the highest since 2021, a company memo said, as the bank benefits from a pick-up in investment banking across the industry.

Goldman Sachs has been leading Wall Street’s league tables for mergers and acquisitions as its fee volumes surged close to levels seen in 2021.

The Wall Street firm announces managing director promotions every two years, and the number of bankers being promoted this time around exceeds the 608 senior bankers it promoted two years ago. The number of promotions includes 27% women.

It also includes 31% Asians, 3% Black and 4% Hispanic or Latinos, the memo from CEO David Solomon and President John Waldron said.

More than 70% of the promotions come from revenue-generating businesses, but unlike previous years the firm did not break down how many came from global banking and markets or global asset and wealth units.

Goldman Sachs beat Wall Street expectations for third-quarter profit, as its investment bankers earned higher advisory fees and rallying markets boosted revenue from managing client assets.

The bank has, however, lost more than a dozen senior investment bankers this year, a higher number than normal, after internal shake-ups and a sluggish start to 2025 drove them to seek new opportunities, Reuters reported earlier, citing three sources familiar with the situation.

BillionToOne was valued at $4.4 billion on Thursday, after the molecular diagnostics firm’s shares jumped 66.67% in their Nasdaq debut, becoming the latest company to tap U.S. bourses amid a government shutdown.

IPOs have made a striking comeback as AI exuberance and falling interest rates anchor equity markets to all-time highs, fueling investor confidence in new issuers after President Donald Trump’s tariffs roiled global markets in April.

While a prolonged gridlock in Washington has curbed the Securities and Exchange Commission’s abilities to review filings, the agency has eased listing restrictions to allow companies to tap public markets even as the shutdown continues.

The Menlo Park, California-based company’s stock opened at $100 apiece, versus the $60 offer price.

It had sold 4.55 million shares above its marketed range of $49 to $55 apiece to raise $273 million in an upsized IPO on Wednesday, reflecting robust investor demand for high-growth biotech companies.

A slew of medical firms have gone public on U.S. exchanges this year. Peer Caris Life Sciences went public in New York in June, with shares trading more than 39% above issue price as of last close. BillionToOne is a molecular diagnostics company that develops non-invasive prenatal and oncology blood tests using its single-molecule sequencing technology. The company’s revenue rose nearly 82% during the six months ended June 30 from a year earlier, with gross profit more than doubling over the same period. J.P. Morgan, Piper Sandler, Jefferies and William Blair were among the underwriters for the offering.