11:59 AM EDT, 05/19/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes fell with the dollar while government bond yields jumped in midday trading Monday as investors reacted to Moody's Investors Service's downgrade of the United States' sovereign credit rating late last week.

The Nasdaq Composite declined 0.5% to 19,123.3, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% to 5,942.1, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was less than 0.1% lower at 42,642.5. The retreat is somewhat reminiscent of the 'Sell-America' trade following President Donald Trump's so-called Liberation Day trade tariff announcements.

Energy, technology, and communication services led the decliners intraday.

After the market closed on Friday, Moody's lowered the US government's long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings to Aa1 from Aaa and changed its outlook to stable from negative. The cut reflected increased government debt and interest payment ratios to levels significantly above sovereigns with a similar rating in over a decade. Its move follows a downgrade from S&P Global Ratings in 2011 and Fitch Ratings in 2023. Both have AA+ as the US credit rating.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump's sweeping tax-cut bill reportedly passed a key congressional hurdle on Sunday after four holdout Republican conservatives allowed it to move forward. Reuters reported non-partisan analysts said the bill would add $3 trillion to $5 trillion to the US debt over the next decade.

US debt now stands at $36.22 trillion, just about doubling in the past 10 years alone, Stifel said in a note. Citing the Congressional Budget Office, Stifel expects debt to rise to over $59 trillion in the decade ahead.

US Treasury yields, which are inversely related to prices, jumped intraday. The US 10-year soared 8.2 basis points to 4.52%, and the 30-year rate surged 9.2 basis points to 4.99%.

The ICE US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback's performance against the world's major currencies, slumped 0.8% to 100.33.