NEW YORK -- A burst of corporate deals and strong earnings reports helped nudge U.S. stock indexes higher Monday. If the gains hold, it will be the fourth straight increase for the S&P 500, marking the longest winning streak in more than two months.

KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 rose 3 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 2,673, as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 112, or 0.5 per cent, to 24,423, and the Nasdaq composite added 6, or 0.1 per cent, to 7,125.

REFINED GAINS: Andeavor jumped to the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after Marathon Petroleum said it will buy the refiner and pipeline owner for more than $23 billion. Andeavor, which used to be called Tesoro, soared 14.8 per cent to $140.51.

GOBBLED UP: McDonald's jumped 5.1 per cent to $166.40 after it reported healthier profit and revenue than analysts expected for the first three months of the year. Sales at its restaurants open more than a year were much stronger than Wall Street had forecast.

EARNING THEIR KEEP: McDonald's joined the wave of companies to report not only big earnings growth for the first quarter, but bigger than analysts expected. Just over half the companies in the S&P 500 have reported their earnings for the first three months of the year, and they're on pace to deliver overall growth of 23 per cent, according to FactSet. That would be the strongest showing since the summer of 2010.

"It's been phenomenal," said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors. "Corporate earnings are doing better. Economic growth is doing better, and I think the market is begrudgingly allowing those numbers to work their way into share prices."

The S&P 500 has been whipping higher and lower in recent months, hurt by worries about higher interest rates and the possibility of a trade war. But the index is up 3.7 per cent since setting a low in early April and is on pace to close out its first winning month in the last three.

DISTRIBUTED GAINS: DCT Industrial Trust, a logistics real-estate company, gained 11.7 per cent to $65.60 after Prologis, an owner of distribution centres and other logistics real estate, agreed on Sunday to buy it in an all-stock deal.

DCT shareholders will receive 1.02 Prologis shares for each share they own. With nearly 94 million shares outstanding, that values DCT at $6.38 billion, according to Friday's closing prices.

PUT ON HOLD: Sprint and T-Mobile US fell in the first day of trading after the companies announced a $26.5 billion deal to merge. The pair have been considering a combination for years, but investors are unsure whether this attempt will get the necessary approvals from U.S. regulators.

Sprint dropped 13.3 per cent to $5.64, and T-Mobile lost 6 per cent to $60.63.

OFF THE SHELF: U.K. grocer Sainsubry's agreed to buy Walmart's U.K. unit, Asda, for 7.3 billion pounds ($10.1 billion) in cash and stock. The deal would create Britain's largest supermarket chain. Walmart rose 2.1 per cent to $89.16.

BUSY WEEK AHEAD: Besides being the heart of earnings reporting season for companies, this week will also feature a policy meeting for the Federal Reserve on interest rates. The Fed will announce its decision on Wednesday.

On Friday, the government releases its jobs report, which is usually the most anticipated economic report of each month.

COMMODITIES: Benchmark U.S. crude rose 10 cents to $68.20 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 47 cents to $74.26. Gold lost $9.30 to $1,314.10 per ounce.

YIELDS: Prices for Treasury bonds were mixed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dipped to 2.94 per cent from 2.96 per cent late Friday. The two-year yield inched up to 2.49 per cent from 2.48 per cent, and the 30-year yield dipped to 3.11 per cent from 3.13 per cent.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 109.36 Japanese yen from 109.02 yen late Friday. The euro fell to $1.2069 from $1.2121, and the British pound dipped to $1.3757 from $1.3785

MARKETS ABROAD: In Europe, France's CAC 40 rose 0.6 per cent, and Germany's DAX gained 0.2 per cent. The FTSE 100 in London was up 0.2 per cent. In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.7 per cent, and South Korea's Kospi added 0.9 per cent. Markets in Japan were closed for holidays.