Stocks slip to begin August following their best month since 2020

Market Movers rounds up the best trades from investors and analysts on CNBC throughout the day.

Investors are keeping a close eye on semiconductor companies' earnings, which roll out this week. Advanced Micro Devices is on their radar, as the chip maker releases results on Tuesday.

Target is also in focus as Wells Fargo says the stock is oversold and can rally by nearly 20%.

-Darla Mercado, Christina Falso

The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite all closed Monday's trading session in the red, snapping three-day win streaks for each. It was the first day of trading in August following a solid performance in July, which was stock's best month since 2020.

The S&P 500 shed 0.28% to end at 4,118.63. The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.18% and closed at 12,368.98. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 46.73 points, or 0.14%, to end at 32,798.40.

— Carmen Reinicke

The closely watched 10-year Treasury yield continued to slide Monday, as traders worried about economic weakness. 

The 10-year yield, which moves opposite price, was at 2.61% in afternoon trading, after earlier falling below 2.60%. It was as high as 2.69% earlier in the session. Traders said the break below 2.70% was significant.

"There's growing apprehension about the overall trajectory of the U.S. economy," said Ian Lyngen, head of U.S. rates strategy at BMO. "If we break 2.55%, then 2.50% becomes an attractive level."

He said the market is also pricing out some inflation expectations. "Energy prices are off today and that's helping."

The 10-year yield is key since it impacts mortgage rates and other consumer and business loans.

—Patti Domm

Stocks fell slightly into negative territory heading into the last hour of trading on Monday. The S&P 500 slipped 0.19% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.001%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 7 points, or about 0.03%.

— Carmen Reinicke

July's S&P 500 gains marked the second bear market rally of more than 10% this year, Savita Subramanian, BofA Securities head of U.S. equity and quantitative strategy, wrote in a Monday note to clients.

"We view this as a bear market rally, which is common, occurring 1.5 times on avg. per bear market since 1929," Subramanian said. Aug. and Sept. are traditionally weak months for stocks, the strategist added and maintained the firm's 3600 price target for the S&P 500.

This July was also the month's best performance since the Great Depression, according to the note.

— Carmen Reinicke

Oil and gas stocks fell hard as oil slumped nearly 5%.

Mark Newton, Fundstrat global head of technical strategy, expects oil could to continue to decline to the $85 per barrel range. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were just under $94 per barrel in afternoon trading.

"Most of energy can get smushed in the short run," he said. "I am a longer term energy bull."

But in the near term, oil is making a technical break, he said. "Energy is not going to be the place to hide in August."

The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF, which represents the S&P energy industry, was down 2.4% in afternoon trading. Exxon Mobil was down more than 2.5%, and Chevron was off just about 2%.

—Patti Domm

Shares of Devon Energy were halted as the company released its second-quarter earnings report on Monday afternoon. The stock was last down 1.7% for the session.

Devon said it earned an adjusted $2.59 in earnings per share and generated $2.1 billion in free cash flow, which was the largest in the firm's history. The company also declared a dividend of $1.55 per share and announced that it was raising production targets for the full year by 3%.

Devon had previously said it would release its second-quarter results today after the market close.

The company said it will hold a conference call to discuss the quarter on Tuesday morning.

—Jesse Pound

Check out some of CNBC senior market commentator's Michael Santoli's notes on Monday's session:

• The market rushed up to a crucial level in the past week and month. It is pausing there to survey the scene. 
• The worst first half in a half-century is followed by a +9% month in S&P 500, allowing resolute bears to dismiss the action as a mere squeezy oversold bear-market bounce while sending a few signals to optimists that the push higher was broad enough to have positive implications for the next 6 to 12 months' equity returns.
• The first hurdle was cleared: a decisive break of the April-July downtrend and the 50-day average, placing the S&P 500 right at its 100-day average and the top of a roughly three-month range. Plenty of obvious resistance sits above (4,230 is the halfway point of the entire decline from the January peak) but the market has done enough to suggest mid June was a plausible important low.

CNBC Pro subscribers can get his full notes here.

One of the most widely followed strategists on Wall Street is growing more optimistic on stocks going forward.

"Although the near term activity outlook remains challenging, we believe that the risk-reward for equities is looking more attractive as we move through 2H," wrote JPMorgan's Marko Kolanovic. He noted that, despite last week's disappointing GDP report, some encouraging signs have started to emerge, "as firms sharply slowed their pace of stockbuilding, and real consumption eked out a gain in June as households continue to cushion inflation shocks with a lower saving rate."

Kolanovic has been remained largely optimistic on stock throughout 2022. In June, he said he expected the S&P 500 to finish the year flat. As of Monday afternoon, the benchmark index is down more than 13%.

—Fred Imbert

Shares of General Electric gained nearly 1% during Monday's session, putting the stock on track for its 12th-straight day of gains. If it closes in the green, it will be the company's longest win streak in 50 years.

— Carmen Reinicke

The outlook for economic growth in the third quarter already is looking fairly grim.

Following Monday's ISM manufacturing reading, which was the lowest since June 2020, tracking data for Q3 growth moved lower.

The Atlanta Federal Reserve's GDPNow real-time tracker now is indicating a gain of just 1.3%, down from the initial 2.1% reading Friday. Goldman Sachs also lowered its outlook, dropping its already meager 1% tracking estimate down to 0.9%. Also, Capital Economics said the early Q3 data is pointing to an annualized GDP gain of just 1.5%.

That follows Thursday's advance estimate of Q2 which showed a decline of 0.9%. Following Q1's 1.6% decline, that put the economy into a widely accepted definition of recession.

— Jeff Cox

Shares of Boeing continue to surge Monday, leading the Dow Jones Industrial Average higher. The stock jumped after CNBC reported that the Federal Aviation Administration has approved inspection protocol revisions that should allow the jet maker to resume deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner. The company also avoided a strike at some of its manufacturing plants.