By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Drops for Nvidia, Tesla and other former superstars are dragging Wall Street lower on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 was down 0.8% in midday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost an early gain of 230 points and was down 37, or 0.1%, shortly before noon. The weakness for Big Tech had the Nasdaq composite heading toward a market-leading loss of 1.5%.

The group of dominant stocks known as the “Magnificent Seven” has been at the center of the U.S. stock market’s recent sell-off, which earlier this month took the S&P 500 10% below its all-time high for its first “correction” since 2023. Big Tech had rocketed in earlier years amid a frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology to prices that critics called overdone, rising even more quickly than their rapidly growing profits.

Nvidia fell 5.2% to bring its loss for the young year so far to 14.8%. It was the single heaviest weight on the S&P 500 by far. Other AI-related stocks were also weak, including server-builder Super Micro Computer, which fell 7.3%, and power companies hoping to electrify vast AI data centers.

Tesla has also been contending with additional challenges, including worries that political anger at its CEO, Elon Musk, will hurt the electric-vehicle maker’s sales. Tesla dropped 4.8% to extend its loss for 2025 so far to 32.1%.

The U.S. stock market has steadied somewhat since its drop into a correction, and the S&P 500 is back within 7% of its record. But strategists along Wall Street warn the sharp swings likely aren’t over yet, with a suite of U.S. tariffs scheduled to arrive early next month. Even if those end up less painful for the global economy than feared, all the talk about tariffs has already soured confidence among U.S. consumers and companies.

So far, the economy and job market have appeared to remain solid despite the worsening moods, and economists are looking for signals that the hit to confidence is translating into real pain for the economy. Another report on Wednesday morning offered little clarity.

Orders for machinery, airplanes and other long-lasting manufactured products unexpectedly grew last month, when economists were forecasting a contraction. But a subset of the data that’s seen as an indicator for investment by businesses, which excludes aircraft and defense products, went from growth to contraction. That could be a signal businesses are holding back on spending to see how tariffs play out.

Treasury yields in the bond market, which often move with expectations for the U.S. economy’s strength, swiveled up and down following the report. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was sitting at 4.33%, up from 4.31% late Tuesday.

On Wall Street, GameStop jumped 14.5% after the video-game retailer reported better results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also said it would begin investing part of its treasury in bitcoin.

Dollar Tree rose 4.2% after it said it’s selling Family Dollar to a pair of private equity firms for $1 billion after a decade of trying to make its acquisition of the bargain chain fit. Dollar Tree also reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Cintas climbed 6.9% after the provider of work uniforms, restroom supplies and other equipment reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across much of Europe and Asia. The FTSE 100 rose 0.5% in London after a report said U.K. inflation improved by a touch more than economists expected.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

By FATIMA HUSSEIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is on track to hit its statutory debt ceiling — the so-called X-date when the country runs short of money to pay its bills— as early as August without a deal between lawmakers and the White House, according to a Congressional Budget Office report Wednesday.

By that time, the government would no longer have enough of a financial cushion to pay all its bills after exhausting its “extraordinary measures” the accounting maneuvers used to stretch existing funds.

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Washington would risk defaulting on its debt unless Congress and Republican President Donald Trump agree to lift the borrowing limit or abolish the debt ceiling concept altogether.

The debt limit was reinstated Jan. 2, following its suspension by Congress in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.

“The Treasury has already reached the current debt limit of $36.1 trillion, so it has no room to borrow under its standard operating procedures,” according to the CBO report.

An analysis released on Monday by the Bipartisan Policy Center estimates that the U.S. could run out of cash by mid-July if Congress did not raise or suspend the nation’s debt limit.

Trump had previously demanded that a provision raising or suspending the debt limit — something that his own party routinely resists — be included in legislation to avert the last potential government shutdown. “Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” Trump said in a statement in December. That deal did not address the debt limit.

After the debt limit was reinstated, in one of her last acts as Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen said Treasury would institute “extraordinary measures” intended to prevent the U.S. from reaching the debt ceiling.

Since then, the Treasury Department has stopped paying into certain accounts, including a slew of federal worker pension and disability funds, to make up for the shortfall in money. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has continued to notify Congress about the use of extraordinary measures in an effort to prevent a breach of the debt ceiling.

The CBO estimates that if the debt limit remains unchanged, then “the government’s ability to borrow using extraordinary measures will probably be exhausted in August or September 2025. The projected exhaustion date is uncertain because the timing and amount of revenue collections and outlays over the intervening months could differ from CBO’s projections.”

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Four U.S. Army soldiers have gone missing at a training area outside of Lithuania’s capital, and a search is underway, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

A statement from U.S. Army Europe and Africa public affairs in Wiesbaden, Germany said the soldiers were conducting scheduled tactical training at the time.

It said further information will be provided as new information becomes available.

Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT reported that four U.S. soldiers and vehicle were reported missing Tuesday afternoon during an exercise at the General Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in Pabradė, a town located less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border with Belarus.

The Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are all NATO members and have often had chilly ties with Russia, a key ally of Belarus, since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1990.

Relations soured further over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has been one of the most outspoken supporters of Ukraine in its fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces.

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Biden administration regulation on the nearly impossible-to-trace weapons called ghost guns, clearing the way for serial numbers, background checks and age verification requirements to buy them in kits online.

Ghost guns were found at crime scenes in soaring numbers across the U.S. before the regulation went into place, rising from fewer than 1,700 recovered by law enforcement in 2017 to more than 27,000 in 2023, according to Justice Department data.

Since the federal rule was finalized, ghost gun numbers have flattened out or declined in several major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Baltimore, according to court documents. Manufacturing of miscellaneous gun parts also dropped 36% overall, the Justice Department has said.

Ghost guns are any privately made firearms without the serial numbers that allow police to trace weapons used in crime. The 2022 regulation was focused on kits sold online with everything needed to build a functioning firearm — sometimes in less than 30 minutes, according to court documents.

Ghost guns have been used in high-profile crimes, including a mass shooting carried out with an AR-15-style ghost gun in Philadelphia that left five people dead. Police believe a ghost gun used in the slaying of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in Manhattan was made on a 3D printer rather than assembled from a kit.

Finalized at the direction of then-President Joe Biden, the rule requires companies to treat the kits like other firearms by adding serial numbers, running background checks and verifying that buyers are age 21 or older.

Gun groups challenged the rule in court in the case known as Garland v. VanDerStok. They argued that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives overstepped its authority and that most crimes are committed with traditional firearms.

The justices had allowed the rule to stay in place while the lawsuit played out.

The court previously struck down a firearm regulation from President Donald Trump’s first administration, a ban on gun accessories known as bump stocks that enable rapid fire.