Wall Street ends mixed as investors focus on tech earnings

By Sinéad Carew and Noel Randewich

July 27 (Reuters) - Wall ‌Street ended mixed on ​Monday, as investors ​awaited guidance from major technology companies in a busy week for quarterly earnings, while also worrying that stubbornly high oil prices could force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.

Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and Apple are set to report quarterly ‌results this week. Investors were questioning whether a multi-year rally fueled by optimism about artificial intelligence may be ⁠losing steam.

Investors last week were spooked by quarterly results from Tesla and Alphabet that showed heavy spending on artificial intelligence.

Walmart rose 2.1%, Microsoft added 1.9% and Johnson & Johnson ‌rose 1%, with all three helping keep ‌the S&P 500 in positive territory.

On Monday, crude fell to a one-week low as U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington was having "good talks" with Iran and there was a chance of a peace deal, but warned U.S. strikes would resume if the negotiations failed ​to deliver. Oil prices surged last week, with Brent futures surpassing $100 a barrel, after new strikes on shipping in the Middle East.

Seven of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, led by consumer staples, up 1.58%, followed by a 1.25% gain in information technology.

The PHLX ⁠chip index extended its recent selloff, falling 2.2%. It is down 21% from its record high close on June 22 and remains up 63% in 2026.

Chinese chipmaker CXMT Corp's stellar debut ​on Monday and a report that the country has started manufacturing homegrown DUV chipmaking tools also signaled intensifying competition for the U.S. semiconductor industry.

"Today represents a continuation of the rotational market that we've seen," said ​Bill Merz, head of capital markets research and portfolio construction at U.S. Bank ‌Asset Management Group. "Part of the market reaction may be related to that creeping suspicion that perhaps a rate hike is coming."

The S&P 500 edged up 0.02% to end the session at 7,413.18 points.

The Nasdaq declined 0.18% ⁠to 24,932.08 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.51% to 52,210.08 points.

Brent crude prices slid 8% to about $89 a barrel after Washington abruptly suspended a two-week campaign of air strikes against Iran on Saturday in Trump's latest strategic U-turn in the five-month-old conflict.

Oil company shares declined. Occidental Petroleum fell 4.1% and ⁠Exxon Mobil closed down 1.4%.

The Fed's monetary policy decision is due on Wednesday and traders are projecting a 62% chance the central bank will leave rates ​unchanged, with a 38% chance of a 25-basis-point hike, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index for June is due a day after the central bank's decision and will be key in shaping market expectations for interest rates later this year.

Analysts on average expect S&P 500 aggregate second-quarter earnings ‌to jump 39% from a year ago, with AI-related stocks accounting for much of that growth, according to LSEG I/B/E/S.

The S&P 500 is trading at around 20 times expected earnings, compared to a 10-year average ‌of 20, according to LSEG data.

Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 by a 1.9-to-one ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 30 new highs and three ⁠new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was relatively light, with ‌15.8 billion shares traded, compared to an ​average of 18.2 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru, by Sinéad Carew in New York and by Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Joyjeet Das ‌and David Gregorio)

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