NEW YORK, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended mixed on Monday, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 cooling off after their best two-week run of the year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 65.44 points, or 0.16 percent, to 41,240.52. The S&P 500 sank 17.77 points, or 0.32 percent, to 5,616.84. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 152.03 points, or 0.85 percent, to 17,725.76.
Six of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in red, with technology and consumer discretionary leading the laggards by losing 1.12 percent and 0.81 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, energy and consumer staples led the gainers by rising 1.11 percent and 0.72 percent, respectively.
U.S. factory orders for durable goods, including items like new cars and machinery, surged 9.9 percent in July, according to the U.S. Commerce Department on Monday. This far exceeded economists' expectations of a 4 percent increase. Orders have now risen in five of the past six months, following a 6.9 percent decline in June due to weak aircraft orders.
Chip stocks, including AMD, Arm Holdings, Micron, and Nvidia, which are set to report earnings later this week, saw declines on Monday.
"I think there's a little angst in the technology sector about the upcoming Nvidia earnings," Baird analyst Ross Mayfield said. "The market is in a pretty healthy place, but it is really hard to make big advances higher if tech is a laggard -- it's just too big of a weight in the index -- and right now, it is acting like a laggard."
Chinese electric vehicle maker XPeng revealed that its CEO purchased over 13 million U.S. dollars worth of company stock, leading to a 7.13 percent increase in its American depositary receipts.
Meantime, Chinese e-commerce company Pinduoduo (PDD) reported disappointing second quarter earnings results, falling short of revenue estimates and revenue guidance expectations. The stock fell nearly 28.51 percent in Monday's session.
