US open: Stocks largely unchanged after Friday's record

US were largely unchanged on Monday, as investors awaited several key economic reports on manufacturing and weighed global growth prospects.

Just before 10:00 in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 2.66 points down to 17,387.86, while the S&P 500 lost 0.23 points to 2,017.82 and the Nasdaq was 2.71 points up to 4,160.92.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial average surged on Friday to all-time closing highs of 2,018 and 17,391 respectively, with investors buoyed by an unexpected increase to Japan's monetary-easing programme.

"The S&P 500 was looking a little exposed at all-time highs having skyrocketed higher on Friday [...] but disappointing Chinese and European manufacturing data now look set to bring stocks back down to earth on Monday," said Jasper Lawler, analyst at CMC Markets.

The government's official Chinese manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) unexpectedly declined from 51.1 to a five-month low of 50.8, while the non-manufacturing PMI fell from 54 to a nine-month low of 53.8.

Meanwhile, the final reading of Markit's Eurozone manufacturing PMI for October was revised to 50.6, up from 50.3 in September but down from the initial estimate of 50.7.

In corporate news, Sapient surged after French advertising group Publicis SA announced a $3.7bn all-cash deal to buy the US firm.

Geron soared after the US Food and Drug Administration removed its hold on the pharmaceutical firm’s new drug research application for imetelstat, which is focused on myeloid malignancies.

Covance rose sharply after Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings announced it would buy the firm in a $5.6bn cash and stock deal.

American Realty Capital Properties tumbled following news that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened a criminal probe into accounting errors at the real estate investment trust.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note was stable at 2.34%, while the 30-year note was unchanged at 3.06 and the five-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 1.62.

Gold futures slid back slightly to $1,169.90, while West Texas intermediate and Brent crude were largely unchanged, trading at just over $80.5 and just under $86 respectively.

The dollar dropped back against the pound but rose against the yen and the euro.