DJIA Plunges Amid Zelenskyy-Putin Summit Speculation; S&P Holds Firm on U.S. AA+ Rating - Market Turmoil Deepens

Wall Street's flagship index tanks as geopolitical tensions escalate—just another day where traditional finance shows its fragility.

Diplomatic Gambit Rattles Markets

The mere whisper of a Zelenskyy-Putin meeting sends shockwaves through the Dow, proving once again that legacy markets dance to political tunes—while crypto markets trade on pure math and code.

Rating Agency's Vote of Confidence

S&P's AA+ affirmation on U.S. debt feels like praising a sinking ship for its elegant deck chairs—traditional finance clings to outdated metrics while blockchain assets redefine value creation.

Volatility Exposes Structural Flaws

Today's plunge underscores why decentralized assets outperform during geopolitical crises—no central authority to freeze your assets, no political meeting to crash your portfolio.

Another reminder why smart money's diversifying into digital assets—because waiting for rating agencies to acknowledge reality is like waiting for a fax in a 5G world.

Elevate Your Investing Strategy:

• Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence.

The White House has confirmed that President TRUMP is working on securing a bilateral meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump added the meeting could take place as a trilateral session with the U.S. if necessary. The location of the meeting hasn’t been determined, although the White House is considering Budapest, according to Politico.

Trump has also pledged air support for Ukraine as part of a security guarantee. At the same time, he said that U.S. troops WOULD not set foot on Ukrainian territory.

Amid his efforts to broker peace between the two countries, Trump’s approval rating remains at a term-low of 40%, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. Over half of the 4,446 respondents expressed concern that Trump was too closely aligned with Russia.

Meanwhile, S&P Global has affirmed its long-term credit rating of AA+ for the U.S., citing increased tariff revenue that will be able to offset tax cuts and spending from The One Big Beautiful bill.

“Amid the rise in effective tariff rates, we expect meaningful tariff revenue to generally offset weaker fiscal outcomes that might otherwise be associated with the recent fiscal legislation, which contains both cuts and increases in tax and spending,” said S&P. The credit rating agency cautioned that deteriorating Fed independence and a growing federal deficit could threaten the rating.

The Dow Jones is down by 0.16% at the time of writing.

Which Stocks are Moving the Dow Jones?

Let’s pivot to TipRanks’ Dow Jones Heatmap, which illustrates the stocks that have contributed to the index’s price action.

Home Depot (HD) is up sharply after the home improvement retailer reiterated its full-year guidance. At the same time, the company’s second-quarter revenue and adjusted EPS were below their respective analyst estimates.

It’s also a good day to be invested in the consumer defensive sector, as all three companies are trading higher.

On the other hand, Nvidia (NVDA) and Boeing (BA) are deep in the red. Nvidia is preparing a new chip for China that will outperform its existing H20 chip, which is designed exclusively for the Chinese market to comply with U.S. export laws, according to Reuters. Furthermore, Boeing has erased all of its monthly gains as reports circulate that deliveries of Airbus A320 planes will outpace Boeing 737 deliveries.

DIA Stock Moves Lower with the Dow Jones

The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) is an exchange-traded fund designed to track the movement of the Dow Jones. As a result, DIA is falling alongside the Dow Jones today.

Wall Street believes that DIA stock has room to rise. During the past three months, analysts have issued an average DIA price target of $497.23, implying upside of 10.70% from current prices. The 31 stocks in DIA carry 30 buy ratings, one hold rating, and zero sell ratings.