Fed outlook pushes S&P 500 into positive territory in July

Major US stock indexes rose during July, with the S&P 500 closing the month slightly up as the path of monetary policy came into sharper focus.

The S&P 500 was up 1.1% for the month, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 4.4%, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. The small-cap-focused Russell 2000 rose the most among the three, with a 10.1% gain as smaller companies are set to take advantage of the pending pullback in interest rates.

The month was relatively bumpy for the indexes as companies reported their latest quarterly results. The S&P 500 received a late push July 31 after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that monetary policy officials could be ready to lower benchmark interest rates in September after more than a year of holding them at their highest level in decades. The large-cap index has now risen for a third straight month.

Sector performance

All but two of the 11 S&P 500 sectors rose during the month.

The real estate sector performed the best at a 7.1% gain. Nearly all of the 31 real estate stocks in the S&P 500 rose in July. Real estate management and development company CBRE Group Inc. was the best-performing real estate stock with a 26.5% increase in July.

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The information technology and communication services sectors were the only two to decline in July. Many of the "Magnificent Seven" — mega-cap tech stocks that had driven much of the broader market's rise — fell in July. Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc., NVIDIA Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc. all declined during the month.

Largest gains, drops

Mohawk Industries Inc. was the top-performing S&P 500 stock in July, rising 41.8% during the month. Shares jumped July 25 after the flooring manufacturer beat earnings expectations and revealed plans to trim costs by restructuring its business.

Meanwhile, DexCom Inc. registered the largest drop among S&P 500 companies with a 40.2% decline. The medical device maker's shares plummeted in the last week of the month and followed the company lowering its 2024 sales outlook during a quarterly earnings report that missed analyst expectations.

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. recorded a similar decline, sinking 39.5% in July. Shares suffered during the second half of the month after the company pushed a technical update that resulted in a global outage and impacted many of its customers across business sectors.