U.S. Stocks Exhibiting Weakness In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - After a weak start and a subsequent rebound into positive territory, U.S. stocks lost their way again and are down in the red in afternoon trades on Monday.

The major averages are all down in negative territory after a brief spell above the flat line.

Worries about slowing growth weigh on sentiment, but fairly encouraging corporate earnings updates have helped limit market's downside.

In addition to digesting the latest batch of economic data, investors are looking ahead to the crucial non-farm payroll data, due later in the week.

The Dow, which climbed to 32,972.03 from an early low of 32,640.79, is down 91.28 points or 0.28 percent at 32,753.85. The S&P 500 is down 14.59 or 0.37 percent at 4,115.70, while the Nasdaq is down 19.50 points or 0.16 percent at 12,371.19.

Boeing shares are climbing more than 6 percent. Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble is rallying nearly 3 percent.

Home Depot is rising 1.5 percent, while Intel, IBM, Walmart, Coca-Cola and McDonalds are up with modest gains.

Chevron is declining more than 2.5 percent. Travelers Companies, Caterpillar, United Health, JP Morgan Chase and MicroSoft are down 1 to 2.2 percent.

Apple, Goldman Sachs, Merck and Cisco Systems are also weak.

In economic news, the S&P Global US Manufacturing PMI was revised slightly lower to 52.2 in July of 2022 from a preliminary of 52.3, pointing to the lowest factory growth since July of 2020.

The Institute for Supply Management said the ISM Manufacturing PMI edged lower to 52.8 in July of 2022 from 53 in June, beating market forecasts for a reading of 52. The reading pointed to a 26th straight month of rising factory activity but the weakest rate since June of 2020.

The ISM Manufacturing Employment sub index in the United States increased to 49.90 points in July from 47.30 points in June, compared with expectations for a reading 47.4.

The ISM Manufacturing New Orders sub index in the United States decreased to 48 points in July from 49.20 points in June of 2022.

Data from the Commerce Department showed construction spending in the US fell by 1.1 percent from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.76 trillion in June, compared to the revised 0.1 percent increase in May and market expectations of a 0.1 percent rise.