S&P 500, Dow Close Lower On Covid Worries

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said late in the session that the Fed could start to reduce its support for the economy by October if the next two monthly jobs reports each show employment rising by 800,000 to 1 million, as he expects.

He also suggested the Fed could start to reduce its monthly bond purchases in September, which could lift yields again – not the best news for the stock market.

Data earlier in the day showed that although US manufacturing grew in July, its pace slowed for a second straight month as spending rotated back to services from goods, and shortages of raw materials persisted.

The softer-than-expected data also sent US bond yields to their lowest since July 20 and knocked the blue-chip Dow off an intra-day record high hit in early trading.

“An issue for the market... is the rise of the growth scare", said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at US Bank, "Whether it's more restrictions in China with infections rising in 14 provinces now, or questions about how far is the US going to have to go with mask mandates.”

Only four of the 11 S&P sectors traded higher by market close, among them utilities and real estate, generally considered safe bets at a time of uncertainty.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.28 percent, to 34,838, the S&P 500 lost 0.18 percent, to 4,387 and the Nasdaq Composite edged up slightly to 14,681.

Square Inc, the payments firm of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, jumped after it said it would purchase Australian buy now, pay later pioneer Afterpay Ltd for $29 billion.

With manufacturing activity data coming in weaker than expected, investor focus now turns to services sector data on Wednesday and the Labor Department's monthly jobs report on Friday.

After mixed quarterly reports from technology behemoths last week, all eyes this week are on earnings from companies including Eli Lilly and Co, CVS Health Corp and General Motors. (Reuters)