Stocks edged lower on Tuesday as the S&P 500 tied a bow on its seventh straight month in the green—its longest winning streak since 2017.
The Dow dropped 39.11 points, or 0.11%, to finish at 35,360.73. The S&P 500 fell 0.13% to close at 4,522.68, while the Nasdaq Composite was down just 0.04% to 15,259.24.
Tuesday marked the last trading day of August, with the major averages posting solid gains for the month.
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The S&P 500 surged 2.9% in August, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 4% for its third winning month in a row. The blue-chip Dow lagged but still climbed 1.2%.
This is the S&P’s longest winning streak since December 2017. For the benchmark index, August was also its 9th positive month in the last 10. The S&P notched its 53rd record close of 2021 on Monday but there’s more upside ahead for the index as it is expected to rise another 1.6% to 4,600 by year-end. If this upside continues, the index could hit 5,000 by the end of 2022.
S&P 500’s surge comes even as the delta variant of COVID-19 has raised concerns about the path for economic recovery.
On Tuesday, Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc delayed its voluntary return to office to January from mid-October.
In August, 10 out of 11 sectors rose, led by financial stocks with a gain of 5%.
Ailing stocks
Apparel company Nike was one of the biggest losers in the Dow, falling nearly 2%. Materials stocks including Nucor and chemical company Dow also struggled in August.
Shares of Zoom dropped about 16% on Tuesday after the video-conferencing software firm showed slowing revenue growth in quarter two, weighing heavily on the Nasdaq.
Tech giant, Apple, also declined, but Amazon’s stock rose 1% to help offset those losses for the broader markets.
Shares of Wells Fargo fell more than 5% after Bloomberg News reported that the bank could face further sanctions amidst Fargo’s previous scandals.
This year, the S&P 500 recorded a 20% gain, without even a 5% pullback on its stock price, finishing last week in the green along with other stocks. The benchmark index has more than doubled since its pandemic low in March 2020.
The S&P 500 is already on track to post an earnings growth rate of 95.4% as the second-quarter reporting season winds down. If the broad equity benchmark reports that growth rate, it would be its largest increase since the fourth quarter of 2009.
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