Technology Earnings Push Dow To New High

Stocks edged to more new highs Monday, shaking off some early profit-taking on this month’s rally, with investors confident about earnings, particularly in the technology sector.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 10.77 to 6,843.87 for its third straight record close and ninth in 11 sessions.

Broader measures also meandered to new highs after some early weakness. But with the bond market closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and investors growing concerned about pricey conditions, there was little conviction to the advance.

“Earnings are clearly coming in better than expected, but there’s an underlying nervousness, a belief that we’ve moved very far very fast,” said Hugh Johnson, of First Albany Corp.

The high-flying Dow, for example, has already gained more than 6 percent this year and has moved within 160 points of the 7,000-mark less than four months after the blue-chip barometer’s first move above 6,000.

Some of the stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Monday:

NYSE

Banc One, down 3-31/64 at 41-41/64.

First USA, up 8-7/8 at 45-5/8.

First USA Paymentech, up 2 at 34-7/8.

Capital One Financial, up 4-7/8 at 38-3/8.

Advanta class A (Nasdaq), up 5-9/16 at 48-11/16.

Advanta class B (Nasdaq), up 4-3/4 at 44-3/4.

Banc One agreed to buy credit-card issuer First USA for stock initially valued at $7.3 billion. The agreement prompted Salomon Brothers and Alex. Brown to upgrade First USA competitors such as Capital One Financial and Advanta.

Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, up 1-1/8 at 11-1/4.

Colony Capital agreed to invest $125 million in a new joint venture that will control the struggling Trump Castle resort in Atlantic City. The deal would remove about $314 million of debt associated with Trump Castle from Trump Hotels’ balance sheet.

Dow Jones & Co., down 4-1/8 at 36-3/4.

The publisher of The Wall Street Journal plans to spend $650 million to revamp its Dow Jones Telerate financial information unit amid tough competition from Reuters and Bloomberg. Telerate has continued to hurt Dow Jones’ profits.

NASDAQ

Microsoft, up 3-5/8 at 90-3/4.

The software giant reported late Friday that its profits rose 29 percent to $741 million, or 57 cents a share, in its second quarter ended Dec. 31, exceeding analyst estimates.

AMEX

Barr Laboratories, up 3-3/4 at 30-1/4.

Gruntal & Co. raised its rating on Barr to “outperform” from “neutral.” In a research note, Gruntal cited Barr’s announcement last week that it won its patent litigation settlement of $24 million cash.