Updated 4:15 p.m.
U.S. stocks closed lower on the first trading day of August after Wall Street finished its best month since 2020 amid ongoing uncertainty about the direction of the economy and whether earnings will continue to beat expectations amid still-rampant inflation and rising interest rates.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.14% to 32,798, the S&P 500 was off 0.28% at 4,118 and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.18% to 12,368.
On Friday, the Dow industrials gained 315.5 points, or 1%, to close at 32,845.13, notching a third straight day of gains; the S&P 500 climbed 57.86 points, or 1.4%, to 4,130.29, rising for a third consecutive day; and the Nasdaq Composite rose 228.09 points, or 1.9%, to end at 12,390.69, its third straight day of gains.
For the week, the Dow gained 3%, the S&P 500 rose 4.3% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 4.7%. For July, the Dow advanced 6.7%, the S&P 500 jumped 9.1% and the Nasdaq surged 12.3%, according to Dow Jones Market Data. It was the best monthly results for the Dow and S&P 500 since November 2020, and the Nasdaq’s best month since April 2020.
The 10-year Treasury yield finished lower at 2.595%. Investors are paring bets on another jumbo Fed rate hike in September, with the CME Group's FedWatch suggesting a near 80% chance of a 50-basis-point increase following last week's grim assessment of first-quarter growth. The Fed last month opted for another 75-basis-point rate hike in an effort to tamp down inflation.
Investors will be looking at a fresh round of second-quarter earnings reports this week, starting with Pinterest (PINS), Activision Blizzard (ATVI), Avis Budget (CAR) and more on Monday, followed by earnings from Starbucks (SBUX), Caterpillar (CAT), JetBlue Airways (JBLU), Uber (UBER), PayPal (PYPL), AMD (AMD) and Airbnb (ABNB) on Tuesday.
CVS Health (CVS), Yum Brands (YUM), MGM Resorts (MGM) and eBay (EBAY) on Wednesday, Alibaba (BABAF) , Eli Lilly (LLY), Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), Amgen (AMGN) and Block (SQ) on Thursday, and AMC Networks (AMCX) and DraftKings (DKNG) on Friday.
In addition, the Friday nonfarm payrolls report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics will give more insight into the strong labor market. So far this year, the solid growth of jobs has prompted economists to say the U.S. is not technically in recession, even with two consecutive quarters of negative GDP.
Apple (AAPL) shares declined 0.6% to $161.51. They finished 3.3% higher on Friday after the world's most-valuable tech company topped Wall Street earnings forecasts, noting the anticipated supply chain hit was lighter than it had forecast while China sales held up despite the country's spring covid lockdown.
Amazon (AMZN) shares rose 0.33% to $135.39. They'd surged on Friday after its better-than-expected second-quarter sales of around $119 billion, and easing cost pressures, softened the impact-of the online retail giant's second consecutive quarterly loss.
Target (TGT) shares closed 1.38% higher at $165.64 after Wells Fargo upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight, saying the recent pullback was a good buying opportunity. Target shares have dropped this year amid inflation curbing consumer spending and lingering supply chain issues.
PepsiCo (PEP) shares rose 1.14%, closing at $176.95. A Monday statement said that the drinks giant would invest $550 million in exchange for a preferred-stock holding in Celsius, (CELH) the Boca Raton, Fla., energy-drink producer. Celsius shares leaped 12%.
