A sign for Wall Street on the side of building...

A sign for Wall Street on the side of building near the New York Stock Exchange on March 4, 2013. U.S. employers added 217,000 jobs during May 2014, in the range of what economists had expected. Credit: AP / Mark Lennihan

The stock market crawled to another record high Monday after U.S. companies announced a handful of deals.

At the close on Wall Street, the Standard & Poor's 500 index had gained 1.8 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at an all-time high of 1,951. On Friday, the S&P 500 index notched another record high, its eighth in 10 trading days. The index notched its third straight week of solid gains. The Dow Jones industrial average nudged up 18 points, or 0.1 percent, to 16,943. The Nasdaq gained 14 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,336.

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The stock market crawled to another record high Monday after U.S. companies announced a handful of deals.

At the close on Wall Street, the Standard & Poor's 500 index had gained 1.8 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at an all-time high of 1,951. On Friday, the S&P 500 index notched another record high, its eighth in 10 trading days. The index notched its third straight week of solid gains. The Dow Jones industrial average nudged up 18 points, or 0.1 percent, to 16,943. The Nasdaq gained 14 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,336.

Hillshire Brands jumped 5 percent after Tyson Foods won a bidding war for the maker of Jimmy Dean sausages.

Family Dollar's stock jumped 13 percent following news that investor Carl Icahn has taken a stake in the discount retailer.

The drug company Merck announced a deal to buy Idenix Pharmaceuticals, boosting Idenix's stock by 229 percent.

Apple's newly split stock closed the day with gains, up $1.48 at $93.70. The stock, which closed Friday at $645.57 per share, split 7-for-1, and began trading Monday around $92.22.

A trip to the emergency room in a Long Island hospital now averages nearly 4 hours, data shows. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports. Credit: Newsday Staff

'I'm going to try to avoid it' A trip to the emergency room in a Long Island hospital now averages nearly 4 hours, data shows. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.