Stocks Indexes Hit New Highs

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks around the world continued to push higher Monday, and U.S. indexes again hit records. Bond yields climbed.

KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 10 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,326, as of 10:08 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 105 points, or 0.5 percent, to 20,374. The Nasdaq composite rose 28 points, or 0.5 percent, to 5,762.

Treasury yields also rose as prices for the bonds dropped. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.44 percent from 2.41 percent late Friday. Two-year and 30-year Treasury yields also notched higher.

MOSTLY UP MARKET: Roughly two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Financial stocks helped lead the way, and those in the S&P 500 rose 1.1 percent. That's the largest gain among the 11 sectors that make up the index. Raw-material producers and industrial companies were also strong. They helped to offset losses for telecom stocks and energy producers, which were hurt by the falling price of oil and other commodities.

RALLY RESUMES: Stocks resumed their upward climb last week after stalling for a couple weeks. Strong earnings reports have helped drive the gains. The majority of companies in the S&P 500 that have reported fourth-quarter earnings so far, 69 percent, have beaten Wall Street's expectations, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. It's mostly come through companies keeping control of costs better than analysts were forecasting.

HCP, a real-estate investment trust, was the latest to do so. It rose 31 cents, or 1 percent, to $30.64 after reporting stronger funds from operation than analysts expected on Monday.

UPCOMING WEEK: Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will offer testimony on Capitol Hill to update the Senate and House on monetary policy. Most investors expect the central bank to keep raising interest rates in 2017, though at a modest pace.

The government will also offer updates on the state of inflation this upcoming week, on both the consumer and the wholesale levels. Many investors expect inflation to rise due to policies proposed by President Trump and Congressional Republicans, though the bond market doesn't seem to be forecasting a runaway spike.

DOWN DAY FOR COMMODITIES: Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 79 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $53.07 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 90 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $55.80 a barrel.

Natural gas fell 5 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $2.98 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In metals trading, gold fell $12.30, or 1 percent, to $1,223.60 ounce. Silver lost 9 cents to $17.84 per ounce. Copper added 2 cents to $2.79 per pound.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 113.97 Japanese yen from 113.41 yen late Friday. The euro edged up to $1.0599 from $1.0631, and the British pound rose to $1.2496 from $1.2479.

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