US close: Stocks reverse gains to finish in the red

Bank of AmericaSharecast / public domain image

Wall Street stocks had reversed their fortunes to close weaker on Monday, as a busy week of earnings kicked off with updates from some of the nation's biggest banks.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.69% at 31,072.61, as the S&P 500 lost 0.84% to 3,830.85 and the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.81% to 11,360.05.

The Dow closed 215.65 points lower on Monday, reversing the gains it recorded on Friday as market participants digested earnings from some big names.

“After rallying into the end of the week some slowdown might have been anticipated,” said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp earlier.

“The potential for a severe disruption to European gas supplies is the major headache right now, although it is far from clear why Russia would play this card and leave itself out of options to influence European governments.”

On the macro front, the National Association of Home Builders' housing market index extended losses for a seventh month in July to hit 55, the lowest reading since May 2020, down from 67 in June and much lower than forecasts for a print of 65.

Also in focus earlier, the spread between two-year and 10-year Treasury notes remained inverted early on Monday, often cited as a sign of a coming recession, with the two-year note yielding 3.149% and the ten-year note yielding 2.974%.

Corporate earnings were again the session's primary focus, with Bank of America eking out gains of 0.03% after it posted slightly worse-than-expected second-quarter profits and revenues in what it termed a "weakened capital markets environment".

Elsewhere, Goldman Sachs added 2.51% after it beat analysts' estimates for its second-quarter earnings and sales thanks to a better-than-expected performance across the franchise.

The bank also upped its quarterly dividend payment.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com. Additional reporting by Iain Gilbert.

Dow Jones - Risers

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $301.26 2.51%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $50.47 1.86%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $139.58 1.40%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $38.32 0.76%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $95.70 0.53%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $167.89 0.30%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $38.71 0.23%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $293.05 0.22%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $173.49 0.06%
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) $230.94 0.00%