Amazon Falls 7%... S&P 500 Rises for 6 Consecutive Months

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] Major indices on the New York Stock Exchange closed lower, ending the last trading day of July on a down note.

On the 30th (local time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 149.06 points (0.42%) to 34,935.47, the S&P 500 index dropped 23.89 points (0.54%) to 4,395.26, and the Nasdaq index plunged 105.59 points (0.71%) to 14,672.68.

The S&P 500 rose 2.83% over the month, marking six consecutive months of gains. The Nasdaq increased 1.89% in July, achieving two consecutive months of growth. The Dow recorded a slight monthly decline.

Amazon plunged 7.5% after its earnings report fell short of expectations. Amazon’s sharp decline, which has a significant market impact, led the overall index drop.

Except for Apple, major big tech companies such as Facebook and Alphabet also showed weakness.

Social networking company Pinterest fell sharply by 18% despite strong earnings, due to concerns over sluggish user engagement metrics.

Caterpillar, a key beneficiary of infrastructure investment, met earnings expectations but closed down 3%.

Oil majors like Chevron and ExxonMobil also declined despite better-than-expected earnings.

Robinhood, which had fallen 8% in its first day of trading the previous day, closed up about 3%.

The inflation data released that day raised further concerns. The June core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index rose 3.5% year-over-year, reaching the highest level since July 1991. However, it was lower than the market forecast of 3.6% and only slightly higher than the previous month’s 3.4% increase, leading to assessments that the inflationary trend may have peaked.

June’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) increased 1.0% month-over-month, exceeding the expert forecast of a 0.7% rise.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.