Trading results for 22 May 2025
The unexpected and rather powerful sell-off on Wednesday, fortunately, did not continue into Thursday. Although market tension persisted throughout the session, a handful of positive developments helped lift sentiment and, towards the closing bell, the indexes even showed a confident upward move. Unfortunately, the bulls lacked the strength to build a sustainable rally – in the last half-hour of the main session, a wave of profit-taking hit the market, leaving all major indexes, except for the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite, flat by the end of the day.
Among the encouraging news was the advancement of President Donald Trump’s tax bill to the U.S. Senate. The legislation passed the House of Representatives by a razor-thin margin – 215 votes in favour to 214 against. The bill proposed massive tax cuts, no tax on tips or overtime, and tax deductions for purchasing American-made vehicles.
However, as is often the case, clouds gathered over Wall Street as well – this time in the form of weaker-than-expected U.S. existing home sales. April figures fell unexpectedly to 4.0 million versus the forecasted 4.15 million, explained by record-high monthly prices, according to the National Association of Realtors. For investors, this was a worrying signal: not everything is as stable as it might seem. Ultimately, these conflicting signals contributed to the flat market close.
A similar trend was seen in ITS indexes on Thursday. The ITS World Index (ITSW) of global companies ended the day virtually unchanged, edging up just 0.03%. Meanwhile, the ITS Shariah Index (ITSS) performed significantly better, gaining 0.40%, thanks to strong momentum in the tech industry – 11 of the 15 advancing stocks in the index belonged to it.
Tesla (TSLA) led the gains, climbing 1.92%. Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co (MRK, +1.12%) continued its recovery, adding over 5% in the past two weeks following a sharp decline earlier in May.
Among yesterday’s top performers, shares of Intuit (INTU, +0.92%) also stood out, attracting increased demand ahead of the company’s quarterly earnings report, which was released immediately after the end of the trading session. And it must be said, the hopes of market participants were fully justified. The financial results of the American multinational company – which specialises in developing financial management software, including the TurboTax tax preparation app, the QuickBooks accounting programme for small businesses, the Credit Karma credit monitoring and personal finance service, and the Mailchimp email marketing platform – were excellent and made a strong impression on investors. The market reaction was swift: Intuit’s shares soared by more than 8% and reached an all-time high.
Overall, it is encouraging that Wednesday’s sell-off did not continue – this brings hope for a calmer market and potential renewed buying activity that could push prices upward. Sustained interest in tech stocks also suggests that investors, at least for now, have not lost their appetite for risk.