US close: Stocks mixed as investors eye tech earnings, Fed meeting

(Sharecast News) - US stocks finished mixed on Monday as relief about a sinking oil price was countered by nervousness ahead of Big Tech earnings and a Federal Reserve meeting, along with another sell-off in the chip sector.

The Dow finished 0.51% higher, the S&P 500 was flat (+0.02%) while the Nasdaq slipped 0.2%.

All indices traded higher early on as oil prices headed south, with Brent crude sliding 8.7% to $88.36 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate dropped 7.5% to $82.61, helped by a weekend pause in hostilities between the US and Iran.

Tensions elsewhere remained elevated, however, after Ukraine struck an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, prompting Tehran to accuse Kyiv of a "hostile and criminal act".

Investors were also nervously looking ahead to Wednesday's Fed meeting. While the FOMC is widely expected to keep rates on hold again - the Fed Funds Rate has been at 3.75% since December - speculation is rising that the Fed will soon tighten policy.

"Investors [are] cautiously eyeing this week's central bank decisions and the potential impact they could have on global economic growth," said Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell. "Whilst markets don't expect any surprise moves, rate setters are expected to lay out a potential path to hikes, with expectation mounting that the Fed, the ECB and the Bank of England could increase rates at the start of the autumn."

Meanwhile, while no major corporate earnings were slated for release on Monday, numbers from heavyweights Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms and Microsoft are all due before the week is out.

"Much hinges on whether this week's cavalcade of big tech earnings (and everything else, but tech trumps all) goes the same way as Alphabet's last week," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.

Chip stocks were notable fallers during the session, as recent selling pressure resumed amid concerns of a rising competitive threat from China's semiconductor manufacturing sector following a blockbuster IPO.

Shares in AMD, Intel, Nvidia and Micron Tech slumped after Chinese memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) soared over 500% on its market debut in Shanghai.

"It now controls around 8-10% of the global DRAM market, and some analysts see that rising into the high teens by 2028 as it aggressively expands production to take on Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron - three of the hottest stocks of the past year," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote. "CXMT is another reminder that China is quietly building its own AI supply chain from chips to models, reducing its dependence on Western technology while becoming an increasingly serious competitor to the incumbents."

On the macro front, the Census Bureau revealed on Monday that new orders for USmanufactured durable goods ticked up 0.3% monthonmonth to $334.77bn in June, rebounding from a revised 4% drop in May but falling well short of expectations for a 1.6% increase.

Meanwhile, the Dallas Fed's general business activity index for the manufacturing sector improved to 1.3 in July from 0 in June, with solid increases in the production index and company outlook index.

Dow Jones - Risers

Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $173.60 6.07%

Apple Inc. (AAPL) $336.91 3.87%

3M Co. (MMM) $178.23 3.25%

American Express Co. (AXP) $335.39 2.83%

McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $270.67 2.23%

Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $84.07 2.21%

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $47.32 2.03%

Visa Inc. (V) $362.53 1.91%

Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $96.65 1.90%

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $114.57 1.46%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Intel Corp. (INTC) $91.67 -8.26%

Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $28.75 -3.65%

Chevron Corp. (CVX) $190.00 -2.42%

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $873.28 -1.74%

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $1,048.23 -1.22%

Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $417.64 -0.74%

Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $130.76 -0.25%

S&P 500 - Risers

Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $131.61 12.76%

Robert Half Inc. (RHI) $39.74 12.61%

Copart Inc. (CPRT) $29.79 9.00%

Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $237.75 8.83%

American Airlines Group (AAL) $14.95 7.98%

Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $225.91 7.59%

Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) $278.37 7.40%

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $47.05 7.33%

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (LW) $53.11 7.12%

Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $356.83 6.76%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Coterra Energy Inc. (CTRA) $32.56 -8.62%

CH Robinson Worldwide Inc (CHRW) $174.46 -8.50%

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $494.95 -8.48%

Intel Corp. (INTC) $91.67 -8.26%

Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $291.61 -8.21%

Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $816.99 -7.18%

Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $497.92 -7.07%

KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $203.36 -6.79%

Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $516.89 -6.72%

Ipg Photonics Corp. (IPGP) $89.70 -6.52%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $131.61 12.76%

Workday, Inc. (WDAY) $147.54 11.92%

Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $237.75 8.83%

American Airlines Group (AAL) $14.95 7.98%

Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $225.91 7.59%

Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) $278.37 7.40%

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $47.05 7.33%

Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $356.83 6.76%

Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) $125.54 6.45%

Verisk Analytics Inc. (VRSK) $206.66 6.22%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Qvc Group Inc Series A (QVCGA) $0.34 -13.49%

Intel Corp. (INTC) $91.67 -8.26%

Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $291.61 -8.21%

Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $1,655.26 -7.41%

Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $816.99 -7.18%

Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $497.92 -7.07%

KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $203.36 -6.79%

Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $516.89 -6.72%

Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $900.20 -5.78%

Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $196.51 -5.35%