US Stock Market: DJIA, S&P500, Nasdaq and Russell ended in red on Monday

As investors started another busy week of company earnings and economic news, stocks on Wall Street gave up early gains and ended slightly down on Monday.

The S&P 500 gave up an early gain and finished down 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.1%, while the Nasdaq dropped 0.2%. Smaller company stocks also gave up some of their recent gains, causing the Russell 2000 to fall 0.1%.

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Bond yields have generally fallen. The 10-year Treasury yield, which determines mortgage rates, decreased to 2.60% from 2.65% late Friday.

The S&P 500 index dropped 11.66 points to 4,118.63. It gained 9.1% in July but is still down 13.6% for the year.

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The Dow lost 46.73 points to close at 32,798.40, while the Nasdaq slid 21.71 points to 12,368.98. The Russell 2000 ended down 1.92 points at 1,883.31.

Banks, health care companies and tech stocks were among the biggest weights on the S&P 500. JPMorgan Chase fell 1%, UnitedHealth Group dropped 1.3% and Intuit slid 1.7%.

U.S. crude oil prices fell 4.8%, dragging energy stocks lower. Exxon Mobil lost 2.5%.

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Those losses outweighed solid gains by retailers and consumer product makers. Target rose 1.3% and Procter & Gamble rose 2.9%.

Boeing jumped 6.1% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after it cleared a key hurdle with federal regulators and could soon resume deliveries of its large 787 airliners.

Stocks have been falling for much of the year as investors worry about high inflation and rising interest rates. A key concern remains whether central banks will raise interest rates too aggressively and push economies into a recession.

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The Federal Reserve raised its key short-term interest rate by 0.75 percentage points on Wednesday, lifting it to the highest level since 2018. The goal is to slow the U.S. economy to help temper the impact of inflation. An inflation gauge that is closely tracked by the Fed jumped 6.8% in June from a year ago, the biggest increase in four decades.

A surge in oil prices throughout the year only worsened the impact of inflation. U.S. crude oil prices are up roughly 25% in 2022 and that has raised gasoline prices in the U.S. to record levels.

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A report last week showed that the U.S. economy contracted last quarter and could be in a recession. Stocks’ recent rally came as worrisome economic reports gave some investors confidence that the Fed can dial back its aggressive pace of rate hikes sooner than expected.

Several big companies are reporting earnings this week, which will give investors insight into how inflation is impacting businesses and consumers. Construction equipment maker Caterpillar and coffee chain Starbucks report earnings on Tuesday. Pharmacy chain CVS reports earnings on Wednesday.

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More than half of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported their latest earnings results, which have been mostly better than expected. Many companies have also warned that inflation is hurting consumer spending and squeezing operations. Businesses have been increasing prices in an effort to keep up profits.

Wall Street will also get several updates on the job market, which has remained strong. The Labor Department will release its June survey on job openings and labour turnover on Tuesday and its closely-watched monthly employment report for July on Friday.