U.S. Stocks Settle Flat But Market Volatility Increases Slightly

U.S. stocks settled mostly flat on Monday, with the dollar seeing a decline as investors assessed the recent economic reports.

U.S. reported strong jobs data last week, with analysts now expecting consumer prices data, due on Wednesday, to show another acceleration in the inflation level. However, US consumer inflation expectations for the year ahead dropped to 6.2% in July versus a record high level of 6.8% in the previous month.

Shares of NVIDIA Corporation NVDA dropped around 6.3% on Monday after the company issued weak preliminary revenue guidance for the second quarter citing weaker gaming revenue. Tyson Foods Inc TSN shares declined more than 8% after posting downbeat quarterly earnings.

The benchmark 10-year note yields dropped to 2.751% on Monday, after hitting as high as 2.869% in the previous session. The U.S. dollar also declined about 0.2% against a basket of six major peers on Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added just 0.09%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.1% fell 0.12% and 0.37%, respectively on Monday.

Major sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a mixed note, with energy and real estate stocks recording the biggest increase on Monday. Information technology, however, was the worst performing sector in the previous session, dropping around 0.9%.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) rose 0.7% to 21.29 points.

What is CBOE Volatility Index?

The CBOE Volatility Index, popularly known as VIX, is a measure of the equity market's expectation of volatility based on S&P 500 index call and put options.