US close: Dow Jones closes higher for fifth day in a row

US stocks turned in another mixed performance on Tuesday after some weak Chinese data overnight was overshadowed by reports that the country had agreed to increase purchases of American agricultural products.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.28% at 26,909.43, while the S&P 500 closed 0.03% firmer at 2,979.38 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.04% lower at 8,084.16.

The Dow closed 73.92 points firmer on Tuesday, advancing for a fifth consecutive day on the back of renewed optimism around trade talks between the US and China and despite poor economic data out of China fuelling concerns of a slowdown.

China's producer price index dropped 0.8% year-on-year in August, marking its largest fall in three years.

Elsewhere, Chinese tech giant Huawei dropped a lawsuit against the US after it "landed a de facto victory" when several pieces of equipment confiscated by the government were returned to the firm.

"After a prolonged and unexplained seizure, Huawei has decided to drop the case after the US government returned the equipment, which Huawei views as a tacit admission that the seizure itself was unlawful and arbitrary," said Huawei.

Also underlying sentiment, according to the South China Morning Post, China offered to increase US agricultural purchases in exchange for a delay in tariffs and an easing of the White House's supply ban on Huawei.

On the data front, the National Federation of Independent Business' small business optimism index fell to a five-month low of 103.1 in August - down from a reading of 104.7 a month earlier and short of a consensus projection for a reading of 103.5.

Despite the drop in the headline reading, the index remained near record highs but with fears of a possible recession doing the rounds, the index was seen as a key indicator of the state of the US economy moving forward.

"In spite of the success we continue to see on Main Street, the manic predictions of recession are having a psychological effect and creating uncertainty for small business owners throughout the country," said the NFIB.

"Small business owners continue to invest, grow, and hire at historically high levels, and we see no indication of a coming recession."

Elsewhere, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for July came in at 7.21m, little changed from a downwardly revised figure of 7.24m for the previous month.

Hires edged up to roughly 6.0m and separations increased to 5.8m. Within separations, the quits rate and the layoffs and discharges rate were little changed at 2.4% and 1.2%, respectively.

In corporate news, Alphabet shares closed a touch higher after news broke that a total of 50 attorney generals were joining an antitrust probe into Google, while Ford shares dipped 1.41% during the session after being hit with a downgrade in its credit rating to 'junk' status by analysts at Moody's.

Apple shares rose 1.18% after announcing its newest iPhone at an event held by the tech giant, but Netflix shares dropped 2.8% following Apple's revelation that it would be launching of a new $4.99 per month streaming service.

Facebook and Amazon shares weighed on the Nasdaq - down 1.1% and 0.6%, respectively.