Mixed finish for US stocks

Wal-Mart shares weigh on Dow

US stocks finished in a mixed mode on Monday, 10 July 2017 at Wall Street. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 finished higher Monday as a pair embattled sectors, technology and energy, drew bidders, while the Dow industrials closed fractionally lower,

The Dow Jones Industrial Average after clinging to modest gains over the session, finished with a loss of 5.82 points, or less than 0.1%, at 21,408.52. The S&P 500 index advanced 2.25 points, or 0.1%, to close at 2,427.43, with the tech sector helping to lead the advance. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index was the session's best performing benchmark, closing up 23.31 points, or 0.4%, to 6,176.39, as the tech-heavy gauge added to its Friday rally following a solid reading of U.S. jobs.

Dow was weighed down by a 2.8% drop in Wal-Mart Store shares, offsetting gains of 1% or more from Visa and Nike. The lesser-weighted materials sector rose 0.6%, and the energy sector was up 0.3%.

Looking ahead to this week, a trio of banks are expected to report quarterly results, including J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup.

Last week, the Dow, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite ended modestly higher. The three gauges have all tacked on 8% or more so far this year, but they're trading below their record peaks hit in June.

On Friday, the closely watched nonfarm-payrolls report showed 222,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy in June, easily beating expectations. That helped to cement views that the Federal Reserve is likely to tighten monetary policy again later in 2017. Higher interest rates can lift the appeal of holding dollars. That also means that a stronger dollar undercuts the benefit of investing in gold that is priced in the currency and doesn't offer a yield.

Reviewing Monday's economic data, it was limited to May Consumer Credit. The Consumer Credit report for May showed an increase of $18.4 billion while the consensus expected growth of $12.7 billion. The prior month's credit growth was revised to $12.9 billion from $8.1 billion. Provided consumers weren't making greater use of revolving credit lines to cover basic needs due to a shortfall in income, this report can ostensibly be looked upon as a good sign for the economy since the expansion of credit is an integral contributor to economic growth.

Bullion prices ended higher at Comex on Monday, 10 July 2017 at Comex. Gold saw a modest bounce back on Monday, rising after a solid U.S. jobs report issued late last week contributed to a drop in prices to their lowest level in about four months.

Gold for August delivery tacked on $3.50, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,213.20 an ounce. The metal lost 1.1% on Friday to end the session at $1,209.70. On Monday, silver for September rose 20.4 cents, or 1.3%, to end at $15.629 an ounce. The metal on Friday had briefly tumbled almost 10% in a flash crash, likely due to a trading error.

Oil ended modestly higher on Monday, 10 July 2017 at Nymex as news that Libya and Nigeria have been invited to join OPEC's meeting with other major producers later this month provided support to futures prices, which suffered from a drop of nearly 4% last week. The two countries had been exempted from the pact among major oil producers, led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, to limit global production and ease a glut of oil that has plagued the industry.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, August West Texas Intermediate crude tacked on 17 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $44.40 a barrel, after tapping a low of $43.65. September Brent on London's ICE Futures exchange, also added 17 cents, or 0.4%, to $46.88.

The ICE Dollar Index traded flat at 95.998 on Monday as gold prices settled.

Economic data will be limited again on Tuesday with investors receiving just two reports--May Wholesale Inventories (consensus 0.3%) and May JOLTS. Both reports will be released at 10:00 ET.

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