While you were sleeping: UPDATED Mixed mood on Wall St

Wall Street was mixed as caution about the global economic outlook weighed on investors' minds, even amid fresh merger and acquisition deals and better-than-expected results and raised profit estimates including from Tyson Foods.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 34.72 points, or 0.2%, to 17,705.91. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.3% to 4750.21 while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.1% to 2058.69.

In the Dow, declines in shares of Caterpillar and those of Chevron, last 3.3% and 1.7% weaker respectively, outweighed gains in shares of Wal-Mart and those of Merck, last 1.1% and 1% higher respectively.

"Sentiment is so negative that the best you're going to get is neutral," Andrew Brenner, head of international fixed income at National Alliance Capital Markets in New York, told Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said the central bank's current accommodative policy stance is "appropriate."

"In short, given the lack of notable price and wage pressures and the possibility of drawing more people back into the labour market, I believe the current accommodative policy stance is appropriate," Mr Kashkari said in prepared remarks for the Economic Club of Minnesota.

"The usual cost of stimulating the labour market through accommodative monetary policy would be an undesired increase in inflation," Mr Kashkari said. "But in the current circumstances, with inflation running below the Fed's 2% target, an increase in inflation is actually desirable. Furthermore, while monetary policy's influence on the labour market may not be enormous at this point, we can have at least some impact."

Tyson at record high
Among upbeat data, shares of Tyson Foods climbed to a record high after the No 1 US meat producer posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings and upgraded its full-year profit outlook amid strong demand and lower costs for feed and animals.

Tyson reported record second-quarter operating income and return on sales, "in what is typically the most challenging quarter of our fiscal year," Donnie Smith, chief executive officer of Tyson Foods, said in a statement.

"We've produced record results in the first half of the fiscal year, and we expect continued strong performance in the second half," Mr Smith said.

Shares of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts soared, trading 24.2% higher after JAB Holding, the German owner of Keurig coffee, said it agreed to take the doughnut chain Krispy Kreme private in a deal worth $US1.35 billion, or $US21 a share in cash.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter, according to the company.

Healthcare companies surge
Healthcare companies were among the biggest gainers in the S&P 500. Pharmaceutical company Allergan gained 6%, while Mallinckrodt rose 6.1%. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index climbed 2.5%.

Shares of Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries rose 5.1% after the company reported a better-than-expected profit. 

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index finished the session with a 0.5% increase from the previous close. France's CAC 40 index added 0.5%, while Germany's DAX index rose 1.1%. The UK's FTSE 100 index fell 0.2%.

"The data that we've seen in Europe is okay-we had better factory data in Germany-and in the US the jobs report doesn't suggest any urgency for the Fed to proceed with rate hikes," Samy Chaar, a Geneva-based strategist at Lombard Odier, told Bloomberg. "Even though Chinese data is hard to get excited about, at least you can start to get comfortable that there's no collapse, the fears of hard landing are dissipating."

Oil dropped 2.7% to $US43.44 a barrel as a change in wind conditions helped move wildfires in Canada away from Alberta's oil producers, while Saudi Arabia's new oil minister signalled the kingdom will keep its policy of near-record production.

(BusinessDesk)