NEW YORK — Stocks edged higher Monday on Wall Street after a strong sales report from McDonald’s offset concerns about the surprise resignation of Italy’s prime minister. Investors also waited for developments in crucial U.S. budget talks.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 14.75 points to 13,169.88. The index traded within a narrow range of just 56 points throughout the day. The Standard and Poor’s 500 finished 0.48 of a point higher at 1,418.55. The Nasdaq composite ended up 8.92 points at 2,986.96.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell 1 basis point to 1.62 percent.
The benchmark Texas crude oil fell 37 cents to finish at $85.56 in New York. Brent crude, used to price international varieties of oil, rose 31 cents to end at $107.33 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
One of the best Wall Street performers was McDonald’s, whose shares rose 93 cents to $89.41. A key sales figure rose in November as U.S. customers bought more breakfast offerings and limited-time Cheddar Bacon Onion sandwiches.
Hewlett-Packard rose 36 cents to $14.16 and also helped push the Dow higher. The company’s stock has been battered the past two months after a weak earnings forecast and a public spat with the founder of Autonomy, a company it acquired for $10 billion last year.
Analysts still are optimistic that President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner can break the federal budget stalemate.
“There’s a pretty good belief that the ‘fiscal cliff’ can be avoided,” said Craig Johnson, a technical market strategist at Piper Jaffray.
Other stocks making big moves Monday:
Priceline.com fell $33.14, or 5 percent, to $625.96 after Deutsche Bank cut its recommendation on the stock to “hold” from “buy” and lowered its price target to $710 from $800.
Phillips 66, the refining and pipeline company, gained $1.24, or 2.4 percent, to $53.58 after saying late Friday that it was raising its quarterly dividend to 31.25 cents per share from 25 cents. The company also said it had approved the repurchase of another $1 billion in company stock after approving the repurchase of $1 billion during the first quarter.
Intermec, a maker of barcode printers and radio frequency identification products, jumped $1.85, or 23.2 percent, to $9.83 after it agreed to be acquired by Honeywell for about $603.4 million in cash.
Business, Pages 24 on 12/11/2012