Dow on track for 10th straight day of gains

By Tanya Agrawal

REUTERS - The Dow was little changed in late morning trading on Monday after eking out another record high at open, while the Nasdaq was boosted by gains in tech stocks.

The rise in Dow put the index on track to close higher for the 10th straight day.

Markets have been boosted in recent weeks by robust corporate earnings, and the strong July employment report on Friday added to the positive sentiment.

"We have strong earnings that is helping the market," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group.

"I have seen a lot of companies exceeding their revenue growth and we also have better-than-expected global growth, which are the main drivers for equities."

Analysts on average expect S&P 500 earnings to have expanded 12 percent in the second quarter and project earnings up 9.3 percent for the September quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

However, the recent run-up has also sparked concerns about stretched valuations.

The S&P, which is up about 11 percent this year, is trading at 18 times expected earnings, compared to its 10-year average of 14, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream.

At 10:54 a.m. ET (1454 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.98 points, or 0.01 percent, at 22,094.79, the S&P 500 was up 0.85 points, or 0.03 percent, at 2,477.68.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 18.69 points, or 0.29 percent, at 6,370.26.

Six of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, with the consumer staples and technology leading the advancers.

Apple, Facebook and Amazon were the top boosts on the S&P and the Nasdaq.

The tech sector has been the best performing S&P sector this year, as investors look for growth in an otherwise low-growth environment.

The energy index's 0.89 percent loss led the laggards as oil prices edged lower on lingering worries over high production from OPEC and the United States. [O/R]

Oil majors Chevron and Exxon were down about 0.25 percent.

Shares of United Technologies were down 2.18 percent following a report that the company had submitted an offer to buy aircraft component manufacturer Rockwell Collins. Rockwell was up 4.18 percent.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway was down 1.29 percent after the company reported a drop in second-quarter profit.

Tyson Foods rose 4.77 percent after the No.1 U.S. meat processor reported better-than-expected quarterly profit and sales.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,546 to 1,161. On the Nasdaq, 1,476 issues fell and 1,216 advanced.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Sriraj Kalluvila)