US equity markets settled narrowly mixed after a morning session rally for the semiconductor sector, spurred by solid quarterly results from the world's largest contract chipmaker, lost some steam - Dow rose +161-points or +0.37% to 43,239.05 to book its 39th record closing high of the year. American Express Co (up +1.46%) and Chevron Corp (+1.66%) were the leading performers in the 30-stock index.
