US close: Stocks mixed after Chinese data

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.31% at 35,625.40 and the S&P 500 was 0.26% stronger at 4,479.71, while the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.20% softer at 14,793.76.

The Dow Jones closed 110.02 points higher on Monday, extending the blue-chip index's winning streak.

In focus on Monday, China's retail sales grew 8.5% year-on-year in July, below the 11.5% expected by economists, with online sales gaining just 4.4% last month, while Chinese industrial production increased 6.4%, also shy of estimates of 7.8%, with China's National Bureau of Statistics noting the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and domestic flooding meant the country's economic recovery was "still unstable and uneven".

Also in focus was news that the Federal Reserve will likely announce a tapering of its bond purchases in September and kick off the reduction in buying shortly thereafter after.

Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari stated he would "feel comfortable" with tapering asset purchases if he was to witness "a few more jobs reports like the one we just got". He also highlighted that the central bank must "pay attention" to the inflation side of its dual mandate".

An ongoing surge in the number of cases of the Covid-19 Delta variant weighed on reopening plays, while the Taliban's claiming of Kabul sent oil prices southbound on the back of fears of political instability in the region.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note slipped to 1.26% on Monday afternoon as market participants continued to show concern about global growth.

On the macro front, the Empire State manufacturing index declined more than expected in August after its record-setting expansion a month earlier, with the index on current business conditions falling roughly 25 points to 18.3 - well and truly short of a reading of 29.0 forecast by analysts.

No major corporate earnings were released on Monday.