US STOCKS-Wall St mixed as S&P 500 heads for best August since 1984

(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window)
* Tesla, Apple advance as stock split takes effect
* Aimmune Therapeutics soars on Nestle's $2 bln buyout offer
* Suitors for Tiktok U.S. slip as deal may need China nod
* Dow down 0.78%, S&P flat, Nasdaq up 0.77%

(Adds comment, details; Updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Devik Jain
Aug 31 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 hovered near record highs on
Monday as bets on a rebound in economic activity due to
prolonged central bank support put the index on course for its
best August in more than three decades.
The Federal Reserve's commitment to tolerate inflation and
keep interest rates low, positive developments in vaccines and
treatments for COVID-19 and a rally in tech-focused stocks have
helped the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit consecutive all-time highs.
However, more than half of the benchmark index's 505
constituents are still in the red year-to-date.
The newly reshuffled Dow slipped, and was within 3.8% of its
record close on Feb. 12, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed
another 0.8% to a new peak.
New entrants to the blue-chip index, Salesforce.com Inc
CRM.N , Honeywell International Inc HON.N and Amgen Inc
AMGN.O , slipped between 0.5% and 2.1%.
Ousted companies Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N fell 1.6%, while
Pfizer Inc PFE.N and Raytheon Technologies Corp RTX.N saw
muted trading.
"It's back to Nasdaq leadership and profit taking in other
parts of the market," said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment
strategist at Charles Schwab.
"I worry that sentiment has gotten frothy and there's a lot
of money in the market that doesn't see any downside risk."
High-flying Apple Inc AAPL.O rose 4.0%, while Tesla Inc
TSLA.O jumped 8.4%, as their stocks became less costly after
their pre-announced stock splits took effect. Technology .SPLRCT and consumer discretionary .SPLRCD
stocks outperformed among the major S&P sectors.
The three main indexes are also set for their fifth straight
monthly rise following March lows, with the S&P 500 looking at
its biggest percentage rise in August since 1984, even as
economic data pointed to an uneven recovery from the steep
downturn.
U.S. presidential campaigns are set to take center-stage in
the coming weeks with market volatility expected to spike ahead
of polling in November.
At 1:08 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 223.48 points, or 0.78%, at 28,430.39 and the S&P 500
.SPX was down 1.67 points, or 0.05%, at 3,506.34. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 89.53 points, or 0.77%, at 11,785.16.
Aimmune Therapeutics Inc 's AIMT.O shares more than doubled
after Swiss food group Nestle SA NESN.S offered to pay $2
billion for full ownership of the peanut allergy treatment
maker. Suitors for TikTok's U.S. assets, Microsoft Corp MSFT.O ,
Walmart Inc WMT.N and Oracle Corp ORCL.N , dropped between
0.9% and 2.3% as China's new rules around tech exports meant a
deal with ByteDance could need Beijing's approval. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 2.05-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.58-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 31 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 76 new highs and 18 new lows.