Investing.com -- The Dow closed higher Monday to wrap up a second-straight positive month for July after shrugging off a dip in health care as energy stocks racked up gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%, or 100 points, closing out the month with a 3.2% gain. The Nasdaq was up 0.2%, and the S&P 500 was up 0.2%.
Energy stocks rally as Chevron receives upgrade
Energy stocks were led higher by a more than 3% surge in Chevron (NYSE:CVX) after the oil major was upgraded by Goldman Sachs, citing potential for strong growth.
Energy stocks were also led higher by climbing oil prices to multi-month highs on bets of tightening global supply and rising demand.
Johnson and Johnson leads health care lower as bankruptcy plan rejected
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) fell 4% after the judge on Friday rejected the company’s plan to place its subsidiary LTL Management into bankruptcy, known as a Texas two-step strategy, to deal with tens of thousands of legal claims alleging its talc caused cancer.
DexCom Inc (NASDAQ:DXCM) was also a drag on health care, falling 6% giving up its recent gains despite raising its annual revenue forecast last week.
CSX, Salesforce stumble on analyst downgrades
CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) fell more than 1% after RBC downgraded its rating on the railroad company to Sector Perform from Underperform, citing coal volume headwinds.
Coal, which makes up nearly a fifth of revenues at CSX, is expected to fall by 20% in 2024, according to a recent forecast from the Energy Information Administration. That is likely to lead to downward earnings revisions, RBC said.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) was downgraded by Morgan Stanley to Equal-Weight from Overweigh but losses were kept in check as the latter also lifted its price target on the stock to $278 from $251.
Hasbro takes Wall St. plaudits ahead of earnings
Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) was up more than 4% after Bank of America upgraded the shares to Buy from Neutral on optimism that the toymaker is likely to deliver better-than-expected earnings on Thursday.
Big tech remains in focus ahead of Apple, Amazon
Big tech is set to remain in the headlines this week as Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) are to deliver reports later this week following better-than-expected quarterly results from Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META), and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL).
Tupperware continues to bask in meme stock fever
Tupperware Brands (NYSE:TUP) rose 40%, taking its gains in July to over 450%, a move that many believe is driven by the meme stock craze that took hold with OG-meme stocks like GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME).
About 27.00% of Tupperware Brands' shares are currently sold short.