By Sruthi Shankar
(Reuters) - The S&P and the Nasdaq were marginally higher on Monday, while losses in industrial stocks such as General Electric and Boeing as well as Apple weighed on the Dow.
A U.S. government shutdown entered its third day, and a bipartisan group of senators attempted to negotiate a deal just hours before the full Senate planned to vote to restore funding.
"It's 'Been there, done that'. We know they are actually going to get their act together and reach a deal. But the economic impact depends on how long it lasts," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.
At 10:09 a.m. ET (1509 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.37 points, or -0 percent, at 26,071.35 and the S&P 500 was up 5.51 points, or 0.20 percent, at 2,815.81.
The Nasdaq Composite was up 19.37 points, or 0.26 percent, at 7,355.75.
Shares in U.S. hemophilia specialist Bioverativ soared 63 percent after French healthcare group Sanofi agreed to buy the company for $11.6 billion.
It was the top boost to the Nasdaq.
Juno Therapeutics rose about 27 percent after Celgene agreed to buy the biotech for about $9 billion in cash. Celgene was down 1.5 percent.
Insurer AIG said it would buy reinsurer Validus Holdings for $5.56 billion. Validus was up 45 percent.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq managed to notch record highs shortly after open on Monday, as investors focused on upbeat quarterly earnings and a raft of deals.
Of the 53 S&P 500 companies that reported through Friday, 79.2 percent have topped earnings estimates, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Halliburton Co rose 2.7 percent on Monday after posting a much bigger-than-expected quarterly profit in the fourth quarter, benefiting from a shale-driven surge in U.S. oil production. Rival Schlumberger also rose 2.7 percent.
Seven of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, led by a 0.82 percent gain in the energy index and 0.6 percent rise in utilities index.
General Electric fell below $16 for the first time in six years, extending its losing streak from last week.
The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield was close to its highest level in more than three years on Monday.
"More concern is coming from the bond market where yields are testing a long-term resistance," said Brown. "If the yields are going up, and if earnings stay the same, share prices would come down."
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,258 to 1,256. On the Nasdaq, 1,247 issues rose and 1,181 fell.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
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