U.S. stocks are mostly unchanged in early trading Monday as China's currency steadied and Greece's bailout cleared another big hurdle. An index of manufacturing activity in New York state fell.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 15 points, or 0.1 percent, to 17,461 as of 10:32 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped one point, or less than 0.1 percent, to 2,090. The Nasdaq composite rose two points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 5,050.
MIXED BAG: Five of the 10 industry sectors of the S&P 500 index fell, led by a 0.4 percent drop in financial stocks.
FACTORY CHECK: Manufacturing activity in New York state contracted in August at the fastest pace since the Great Recession, pulled down by sharp declines in new orders and shipments, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
EUROPE'S DAY: Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.3 percent while Germany's DAX fell 0.7 percent. The CAC-40 in France bucked the trend, trading 0.1 percent higher.
GREEK CRISIS: Greece cleared a big hurdle late Friday when eurozone finance ministers approved the country's 86 billion-euro ($93 billion) bailout program. A few parliaments have to approve the deal before Greece can get its hands on the 26 billion euros ($29 billion) tranche of money that will allow it to make a big repayment due to the European Central Bank on Thursday.
ANALYST TAKE: "Given the market-moving power of Greece in the first half of 2015, investors clearly aren't as fussed about the issue as they once were, with fears over China's next move outweighing the positive progress found on the continent," said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex.
YUAN STEADIES: Chinese authorities raised by a smidgen the daily level for the country's currency, which is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent against the dollar each day in spot markets. Monday's rate fix further calmed Asian markets after Beijing last week devalued the yuan. That move resulted in the currency weakening as much as 3 percent.
JAPAN ECONOMY: The Nikkei rose after government data showed Asia's second-biggest economy contracted 1.6 percent in the April-June quarter because of bad weather and slowing China demand, raising hopes of fresh stimulus. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has championed a huge monetary easing program aimed at kick-starting economic growth, but analysts say the poor results so far suggest that the central bank may pump in even more money in the months to come. Such a move could also support the stock market.
BLAST FALLOUT: Shares of Tianjin Port Development Holdings tumbled 13 percent as worries deepened over last week's huge explosions at the busy Chinese port city. The blasts, which originated at a warehouse storing more hazardous material than permitted, left at least 114 people dead and 70 missing.
ASIA'S DAY: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.5 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.7 percent and the Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China rose 0.7 percent.
ENERGY: U.S. crude oil fell 76 cents to $41.74 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, fell 18 cents to $49.01 in London.
CURRENCIES: The euro was flat at $1.1117 while the dollar was steady at 124.36 yen.
BONDS: Prices of U.S. government bonds rose, pushing down the yield on the 10-year Treasury note to 2.16 percent.