Stocks Rose to New Record Highs

U.S. stocks climbed modestly on Monday, with the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials rising to record closing highs again, after Citigroup Inc. reported better-than-expected earnings. The Dow industrials gained 19.96 points, or 0.13%, to 15,484.26. The S&P 500 rose 2.31 points, or 0.14%, to 1,682.50 and the Nasdaq Composite index climbed 7.41 points, or 0.21%, to 3,607.49.

Citigroup (C) was the winner among large U.S. banks on Monday, with shares rising over 2% to close at $51.81. Citigroup was the latest money center bank to announce its second-quarter results, with earnings of $4.2 billion, or $1.34 a share,  increasing from $3.8 billion, or $1.23 a share, in the first quarter, and $2.9 billion, or 95 cents a share, during the second quarter of 2012.

Weaker than anticipated U.S. retail sales in June raise new questions about the strength of the U.S. economy, the health of consumers and the timing of any Federal Reserve ‘tapering.’

Investigators are looking into whether an emergency locator transmitter built by Honeywell (HON) was one possible cause of Friday’s fire in a Boeing (BA) 787 operated by Ethiopian Airlines, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing several anonymous sources.

T. Rowe Price on Monday reiterated its position against the plan to take Dell private, sending the company’s stock falling just three days before the scheduled shareholder vote.