S&P gains on strong earnings, Facebook lifts Nasdaq

By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) - The S&P 500 edged higher on Monday, buoyed by strong results from Berkshire Hathaway Inc and Tyson Foods, while Nasdaq got a lift from gains in Facebook and PepsiCo.

The benchmark S&P index notched up its first five-week run of gains this year on Friday as robust corporate earnings helped investors shrug off worries about U.S. trade policies.

"The market's coming to terms with what's going to continue to power it forward," said Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist at SlateStone Wealth LLC in New York.

"We're only couple of points away from an all-time high, and as we approach that, we're going to see a little bit of resistance."

Berkshire Hathaway Inc rose 3.7 percent after the Warren Buffett-led conglomerate reported a 67 percent surge in quarterly operating profit.

Tyson Foods gained 3.8 percent after the No. 1 U.S. meat processor beat analysts' quarterly profit estimates due to strong demand for beef.

Of 413 S&P 500 companies that have reported so far, 79.2 percent have topped earnings estimates. That is well above the average of 72 percent for the past four quarters.

At 11:56 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 17.00 points, or 0.07 percent, at 25,479.58, the S&P 500 was up 6.69 points, or 0.24 percent, at 2,847.04 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 21.35 points, or 0.27 percent, at 7,833.37.

Facebook gained 3.7 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported the company had asked large U.S. banks to share detailed financial information about their customers, as part of an effort to offer new services to users.

The stock was the biggest boost to the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

PepsiCo rose 1.5 percent after the company said Ramon Laguarta, a company veteran with experience in international markets, would succeed Indra Nooyi as chief executive officer.

The S&P energy index was up 0.5 percent, the most among the 11 major S&P sectors, after the Trump administration said it would aggressively enforce economic sanctions that is it re-imposing on Iran this week.

"The market's trying to figure out what the sanctions on Iran are going to mean for oil and trade going forward," said Pavlik.

Among the decliners was Newell Brands, which dropped 14 percent after the consumer products company reported quarterly sales below Wall Street estimates and cut its full-year forecast.

Intel fell 1.3 percent after Barclays downgraded the stock to "equal weight".

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.47-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.42-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 17 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 64 new highs and 53 new lows.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Shounak Dasgupta)