NEW YORK—Stocks slid Tuesday as the U.S. government crept closer to the edge of a potentially disastrous default on its debt.
The S&P 500 fell 1.1 percent after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said, “We’re not there yet” on a deal to prevent the U.S. government from running out of cash. That followed a meeting late Monday that he and President Joe Biden called productive but ultimately ended with no agreement.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 231 points, or 0.7 percent, while the Nasdaq composite lost 1.3 percent.
Until now, the stock market has remained largely resilient even as Washington approached a June 1 deadline. That’s when the U.S. government may no longer be able to pay its bills, unless Congress allows it to borrow more. Economists and investors widely believe a default would send shockwaves through the global economy and financial markets….