Wall Street’s three major indexes ended lower on Monday as investors awaited quarterly results from major US retailers for clues on consumer spending, while rising oil prices added pressure amid stalled US-Iran diplomatic efforts.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 272.63 points, or 0.51%, to 53,459.78, while the S&P 500 lost 40.70 points, or 0.52%, to 7,745.06. The Nasdaq Composite declined 84.25 points, or 0.31%, to 26,644.91.
Oil futures settled more than $2 per barrel higher as investor pessimism over efforts to resolve the Iran conflict heightened concerns over global supply. The rise supported the S&P 500 energy index, which gained 0.87% and was the only one of the benchmark’s 11 major sectors to finish higher.
Investors were also cautious following weaker July retail sales and jobs data, with Home Depot and Walmart due to report their quarterly results on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.
“Concerns about recent softer data have the market being a bit tepid and waiting for retail earnings for direction,” said Phil Blancato, chief market strategist at Osaic Wealth.
The communications services and consumer staples sectors were the biggest decliners, each falling about 1.5%, while financials and consumer discretionary stocks lost slightly more than 1%.
Technology stocks also remained volatile as investors continued to assess whether heavy spending on artificial intelligence will generate sufficient returns. The S&P 500 technology sector ended nearly 0.2% lower.
Chip stocks provided some support, with the PHLX semiconductor index climbing 1.6%. Micron Technology rose 4% while Applied Materials gained 5.5%. However, software stocks fell sharply, with the S&P 500 Software & Services index declining 2.8%.
Microsoft and Meta Platforms were among the biggest drags on the S&P 500, each falling more than 3%.
Investors are also looking ahead to Nvidia’s quarterly results next week, with the chipmaker remaining a key focus for markets amid continued enthusiasm and scrutiny over the AI investment boom.
Trading breadth was negative, with declining issues outnumbering advancers by 1.76-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange. On the Nasdaq, 3,106 stocks fell compared with 1,848 gainers.
US exchanges recorded 14.74 billion shares changing hands, below the 16.95 billion average over the past 20 sessions.
Reuters
