NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks remained in record territory on Monday but the major indices were flat as conflicting reports on the progress of trade talks between the U.S., and China dominated.

"Progress doesn't happen in a straight line and that is starting to frustrate people today," Scott Ladner, chief investment officer at Horizon Investments in Raleigh, North Carolina told the Reuters Thomson news agency on Monday. "It feels very herky-jerky."

A piece of good news was that the Trump administration has granted an extension for ninety days for U.S. companies to do business with Huawei. The company was previously blacklisted in May.

At the close of trading Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was ahead 28.14 points, or 0.1%, at 28,033.03.

The Standard and Poor's 500 rose 2.04 points, or 0.07%, to 3,122.5.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 14.29 points, or 0.17%, at 8,555.12.

The U.S. dollar lost ground almost across the board. The Australian dollar let the side down, holding steady at 0.6810.

The euro shone with a sharp rise to around 1.1075 approaching the New York close on Monday.

The British pound jumped to 1.2958.

The Japanese yen firmed to 108.64, while the Swiss franc strengthened to 0.9885.

The Canadian dollar rose slightly to 1.3210. The New Zealand dollar edged up to 0.6401.

Overseas, the FTSE 100 in London gained 0.07%. The German Dax fell 0.26%. The Cac 40 in Paris lost 0.16%.

A stimulus measure taken by China'a Central Bank inspired stock markets in Asia on Monday. The Nikkei 225 closed 56.68 points or 0.24% higher at 23,360.00.

Shares in Hong Kong on the Hang Seng index jumped 354.43 points or 1.35% to 26,681.09.

China's Shanghai Composite advanced 17.86 points or 0.62% to 2,909.20.

The Australian All Ordinaries went against the trend, losing 27.20 points or 0.39%. The key index closed Monday at 6,871.70.