NEW YORK, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded mixed on Monday as investors watched closely the latest geopolitical issues.
At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.81 points, or 0.01 percent, to 21,671.70. The S&P 500 gained 0.59 points, or 0.02 percent, to 2,426.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 16.31 points, or 0.26 percent, to 6,200.22.
With no key data came out on Monday, Wall Street were awaiting the closely watched speech that U.S. President Donald Trump will deliver Monday night about the country's strategy for the war in Afghanistan.
Investors also kept an eye on the development of geopolitical tensions between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Meanwhile, the market was further under pressure amid political uncertainty in the White House.
Analysts said recent turmoil in Washington spurred market concerns about whether the Trump administration is able to push through its economic agenda.
Moreover, expectations for tighter monetary policy in the U.S. have been dampened recently by soft inflation data. Market expectations for a rate hike in December are just 41 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool. Enditem
