US stocks close lower, with indicators on the radar

New York stock markets closed down on Monday (1st). In a volatile session, investors weighed data and also looked forward to more corporate earnings this week. Most sectors retreated, but industrials rose, supported by Boeing’s strong rally.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.14% to 32,798.40 points, the S&P 500 was down 0.28% to 4,118.63 points and the Nasdaq was down 0.18% to 12,368.98 points.

Stocks opened lower after a recent rally. On the indicator agenda, the US manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) dropped from 53.0 in June to 52.8 in July, according to the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), compared with a forecast of 52.1 of analysts polled by the Wall Street Journal. Investments in construction fell by 1.1% in June, which contradicted the forecast for a rise of 0.4%.

For ING, the ISM PMI showed that US production is on a “clear deceleration path” and should continue to lose strength in the coming months. The bank also says that the US homebuilding sector is expected to remain weak, putting a brake on economic activity “for most of the next 12 months”.

The initial reaction to the data was positive on exchanges. One reading may have been that the weak data reinforces the expectation of a less aggressive monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve (Fed, the US central bank) ahead. In the afternoon, the negative picture prevailed, but with the indices not far from stability.

Among stocks in focus, Boeing rose 6.13% after the company managed to avoid a strike at three of its factories. Energy stocks, on the other hand, were under pressure, given the drop in oil, with Chevron down 2.00%, ExxonMobil down 2.53% and Chesapeake International down 3.98%.