Major U.S. stock indexes close at record highs

Another day, another series of record highs for major U.S. stock indexes.

The Dow Jones industrial average, the Standard &Poor's 500 and the Nasdaq composite index all finished Monday at new high closes, extending a run they have been on in recent weeks.

The Dow gained 59.58 points or 0.3 per cent, to 18,636.05. The S&P500 climbed 6.10 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 2,190.15, whilethe Nasdaq rose by 29.12 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 5,262.02.

Chemical and machinery companies were the big gainers among U.S. stocks,while investors sold government bonds and utility and phone companies, which they had turned to earlier in the year in a hunt for safer investments

Analysts said markets are rising in anticipation of better corporate earnings to come.

"If those earnings don't come, we have the Wile E. Coyote moment where we're off the cliff ... and we're gonna fall,"Brian Nick, chief investment strategist forTIAAInvestments, told TheAssociatedPress.

"We're moving from an interest-rate-driven bull market to an earnings-driven secular bull market," Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James Financial in St.Petersburg, Fla., told Reuters.He expects earnings will improve"over the next few years."

OnBay Street, the S&P/TSX composite index gained 29.57 points to 14,777.02 as the price of oil moved higher.

The September crude contract was up $1.25 at $45.74 US per barrel.

• Canadian dollar at 1-month high on oil price strength

Performance Sports Group Ltd., which owns the Bauer and Easton sports brand, saw its shares drop$2.09, or 46.44 per cent, to $2.41 after the company said it couldn'tfile an audited annual reportwith regulators on time. The company said thatfailure puts it in a default position under itscredit agreements.

• Maker of Bauer, Easton gear delays filing of audited annual report, in talks with lenders