S&P 500 Extends Gains into Fifth Day

U.S. stocks ended Monday with modest gains with the S&P 500 extending the winning streak to five days, as investors looked to a slew of quarterly earnings reports from companies including online film service Netflix. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 40.71 points, or 0.25%, higher at 16,449.25. The S&P 500 ended the day 7.04 points, or 0.38%, higher at 1,871.89. The Nasdaq Composite added 26.03 points, or 0.64%, to 4,121.55.

Netflix Inc. (NFLX) on Monday reported a fiscal first-quarter profit of $53 million, or 86 cents a share, on revenue of $1.27 billion. During the same period a year ago, Netflix earned 5 cents a share on $1.02 billion in sales.

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) rallied Monday as the chipmaker’s stronger-than-expected first-quarter revenue drew upbeat reviews from Wall Street analysts. AMD reported a first-quarter loss of $20 million, but excluding one-time items, the chipmaker would have earned 2 cents a share on $1.4 billion in revenue.

On the heels of a choppy first quarter, federally controlled mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have cut their forecasts for the U.S. housing market’s performance in 2014. Doug Duncan, Fannie’s chief economist, said Monday that he now expects builders to start construction on 1.05 million housing units this year, down 50,000 from Fannie’s forecast earlier this year.

U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has approached British rival AstraZeneca to propose a $101 billion takeover, Britain’s Sunday Times reported.