NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Monday on hopes that China will take further accommodative monetary policy action if needed, while merger deals kept traders focused even as volume was below average.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 7.39 points, or 0.04 percent, to 17,817.45, the S&P 500 gained 5.94 points, or 0.29 percent, to 2,069.44 and the Nasdaq Composite added 41.92 points, or 0.89 percent, to 4,754.89.
The Dow and S&P closed at record highs but did not trade above record intraday levels set last Friday.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
