Stocks closed mixed on Wall Street Monday after a day of choppy trading. Investors were balancing unease about the spread of a more contagious coronavirus variant against another round of encouraging company earnings. The S&P 500 lost 0.2%. It was slightly higher for much of the day before turning lower in the last half-hour of trading. Roughly 150 members of the index will report their results this week, and the July jobs report comes out on Friday. Digital payments company Square rose 10.2% after saying it would acquire the “buy now, pay later” company Afterpay for $29 billion, the AP reports. The S&P 500 fell 8.10 points to 4,387.16. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 97.31 points, or 0.3%, to 34,838.16. The Nasdaq rose 8.39 points, or 0.1%, to 14,681.07.
Technology, industrial, and communication companies weighed on the market. Gains by health care stocks, banks, and a variety of retailers and other companies that rely on direct consumer spending helped keep the losses in check. This week will be busy for investors. Roughly 150 members of the S&P 500 will report their results, and the July jobs report comes out on Friday. Companies that will report this week include DuPont, Eli Lilly, CVS, Kraft Heinz, General Motors and Humana, among many others. So far earnings season has been strong for corporate America, with the average S&P 500 company reporting an 85.1% growth in profits from last year. Roughly nine out of ten companies have beaten expectations on both profits and revenue.
(More
stock market stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
