By Sinéad Carew and Avinash P
Aug 17 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 fell on Monday as investors waited for quarterly reports from large retailers to give information about the health of the U.S. consumer, while oil prices rose as the U.S. and Iran appeared no closer to a deal.
Brent crude futures rose more than 2% on global supply worries stoked by investor pessimism about diplomatic efforts to resolve the Iran war.
The gain in oil provided support for the energy index, which rose 1% and was one of two S&P
500 sector gainers, along with industrials, which added 0.3%.
Investors, with July's weak retail sales and jobs data fresh in their minds, were cautious as they waited for quarterly results from retailers including home improvement company Home Depot, due out on Tuesday, and retail bellwether Walmart, due out on Thursday.
"Concerns about recent softer data have the market being a bit tepid and waiting for retail earnings for direction," said Phil Blancato, chief market strategist at Osaic Wealth, who added that volume is often weak in August, when many traders take vacations. "There's a combination of summer doldrums and waiting for data on the consumer."
At 2:15 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 263.09 points, or 0.49%, to 53,469.32, the S&P 500 lost 29.00 points, or 0.37%, to 7,756.76 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 82.57 points, or 0.31%, to 26,646.60.
On Friday, the S&P 500 slipped from the previous session's record closing high. Also on Friday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed about 1.3% below its most recent record close.
On Monday, communications services was the weakest of the S&P 500 sectors, down about 1.6%, with its biggest drag from Meta Platforms.
The S&P 500 technology sector was down slightly. Trading in technology has been volatile with investors anxious about whether hefty spending on artificial intelligence will pay off. Reuters reported on Friday that Anthropic, which is preparing for its IPO, forecast 2028 revenue of roughly $190 billion to $200 billion, according to two people familiar with the company's financials.
On Monday, gains in chip stocks were offset by declines in software. The PHLX semiconductor index was rallying nearly 2% while the S&P 500 Software & Services index fell 2.8%.
Investors are also waiting for results, due out next week, from leading AI chipmaker Nvidia, the world's most valuable company.
Declines in Microsoft provided the biggest drag on the S&P 500 while chip sector stocks were up. Micron was up 4.5% and Applied Materials was up 5.6%, among the biggest boosts to the benchmark index.
In other movers, U.S.-listed shares of Vista gained 4% after Peter Thiel bought a 1% stake in the Latin American oil company.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.7-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 213 new highs and 176 new lows.
On the Nasdaq, 1,834 stocks rose and 2,921 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.59-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 19 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 79 new highs and 100 new lows.
(Reporting by Sinéad Carew in New York, Avinash P and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and David Gregorio)
