Nasdaq edges to record high to open busy earnings week

In this Oct. 8, 2014, file photo, commuters rush from subway trains at a Wall Street station, in New York. The Nasdaq edged up to a third straight record high Monday, July 20, 2015, as solid earnings from toymaker Hasbro and others kicked off a heavy week of quarterly results. AP PHOTO/MARK LENNIHAN

NEW YORK–The Nasdaq edged up to a third straight record high Monday as solid earnings from toymaker Hasbro and others kicked off a heavy week of quarterly results.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index finished at 5,218.86, up 8.72 points (0.17 percent).

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 13.96 (0.08 percent) at 18,100.41, while the broad-based S&P 500 also flirted with an all-time high before finishing up 1.64 (0.08 percent) at 2,128.28, about 2.5 points below the record set on May 21.

Hasbro surged 6.3 percent on a 25 percent rise in second-quarter earnings to $41.8 million. Popular products included games and other toys based around the “Jurassic World” movie and various Marvel superhero blockbusters.

Oil-services giant Halliburton rose 1.8 percent after reporting second-quarter earnings of 44 cents per share, better than the 29 cents that analysts had projected. Net earnings, however, were just $54 million due to the petroleum industry downturn, down from $774 million a year ago.

Earnings reports are due later this week from numerous companies, including Apple, General Motors and Boeing.

Several larger technology stocks gained, including Amazon (+1.1 percent), Apple (+1.9 percent), Facebook (+3.1 percent) and Priceline (+2.6 percent).

Leading US petroleum producers including Apache (-3.5 percent), EOG (-3.2 percent) and Continental Resources (-3.4 percent) declined on falling prices for both oil and natural gas. Dow member ExxonMobil lost 1.0 percent.

Lockheed Martin rose 2.0 percent as it announced it was acquiring the iconic helicopter maker Sikorsky Aircraft from United Technologies for $9 billion. Dow member United Technologies dropped 0.2 percent.

Rooftop solar company Vivint Solar surged 44.8 percent on news it will be acquired by SunEdison for $2.2 billion. SunEdison rose 0.3 percent.

Chipmaker Micron Technology fell 6.1 percent on skepticism about a possible acquisition of the company by Tsinghua Unigroup of China due to expectations of tough scrutiny by US regulators over such a deal.

Online payments company PayPal Holdings rose 5.4 percent in its first day as a free-standing firm following its spin-off from eBay. EBay gained 2.4 percent.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.38 percent from 2.35 percent Friday, while the 30-year advanced to 3.10 percent from 3.08 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.