News: APT US STOCKS-S&P 500 edges down on virus woes, slowing economy

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The S&P 500 Index closed slightly lower on Monday, after erasing early gains as worries about the Delta variant of the coronavirus and a slowing U.S. economy overshadowed optimism around more fiscal stimulus and a strong second-quarter earnings season.

Data earlier in the day showed that although U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. Bank, "Whether it's more restrictions in China with infections rising in 14 provinces now, or questions about how far is the U.S. going to have to go with mask mandates.”

Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 101.33 points, or 0.29%, to 34,834.14, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 8.12 points, or 0.18%, to 4,387.14 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 6.05 points, or 0.04%, to 14,678.72.

Square Inc SQ.N , the payments firm of Twitter Inc TWTR.N co-founder Jack Dorsey, jumped after it said it would purchase Australian buy now, pay later pioneer Afterpay Ltd (APT) 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 LLY.N , CVS Health Corp CVS.N and General Motors Co GM.N .

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As U.S. stock market marches on, valuations moderate	https://tmsnrt.rs/3lizzqJ 

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