U.S. stocks finished mixed Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing in record territory helped by take-over speculation over Verizon Corp., while the broad market fell ahead of key earnings later in the week.

The Dow industrials continued their rally from last week towards the key 14,000 level, as investors put money in the stocks of multi-nationals that benefit from global growth and a weak dollar.

The Dow rose 43.73, or 0.31 percent, to 13,950.98 — its 30th record close since the start of the year. The benchmark index, which came off of highs from earlier in the session, again set a trading high, hitting 13,989.11, less than 11 points from 14,000. The previous high of 13,932.29 came in Friday's session, which also saw a record close.
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Among the Dow's 30 components, 18 advanced, led by the likes of Verizon communications, which gained more than 2% on speculation it could be a takeover target of the UK's Vodafone Group.

McDonald's Corp. also advanced 0.4%, after the fast food giant announced it will take a second-quarter loss related to the sale of some assets, but that its earnings before special charges will be above analysts' expectations.

Besides Verizon, Applebee's International Inc. rose over 2% on news the restaurant chain operator is being acquired by IHOP Corp. for about $2.1 billion, the companies said Monday.

Also in merger news, a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland on Monday said it will raise the cash component of its $98 billion bid for ABN Amro as the trio of banks accepted that they won't be able to acquire the Dutch bank's LaSalle business. See full story.

Also helping the Dow, construction equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. hit a new high of $86.49, and closed at $85.90. United Technologies Corp., also a Dow component, hit a 52-week high of $76.98 before it closed at $76.67.

However, broader stock indicators slipped lower Monday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 2.98, or 0.19 percent, to 1,549.52. The S&P set a fresh trading high of 1,555.90, topping a high of 1,555.10 set Friday when the index surged past a trading high set in March 2000.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 9.67, or 0.36 percent, to 2,697.33.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 2.70 billion shares, down from 2.75 billion on Friday.

Bonds rose yesterday, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note falling to 5.04 percent from 5.10 percent late Friday.

The light, sweet crude futures rose 22 cents to $74.15 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil hadn't closed above that level since mid-August last year.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies and continued to hover near its record lows against the euro.