Dow: Longest bull run in 80 years

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Dow industrials ended at another all-time high Monday, closing with gains for the 24th out of 27 sessions - a streak that matched an 80-year-old record on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 47.54 to 13,312.16, Charts) gained nearly 0.4 percent after briefly hitting an intraday record of 13,317.69. It was the fifth straight record close for the average.

The 30-share Dow has now risen in 24 of the last 27 sessions, matching its longest bull run in history, last achieved in the summer of 1927, according to Dow Jones. Should the Dow end higher on Tuesday, it would set a new record.

The broader S&P 500 (up 3.42 to 1,509.04, Charts) index rose about 0.3 percent, edging ever closer to its all-time high of 1,527.46. That record was hit in March 2000 at the tail end of the last rally, fueled by the 1990s tech boom.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite (down 2.01 to 2,570.14, Charts) fell a few points after ending last week at a six-year high.

Blue chips managed gains from the get-go as investors welcomed the day's merger news, including Alcoa's $27 billion hostile bid for Canadian rival Alcan.

Treasury prices slipped, the dollar and oil prices fell while gold rose. Here's a look at what was influencing the market near the close.

Stocks have been on a roll lately, thanks to a mix of strong earnings and buyout news.

Ron Kiddoo, chief investment officer at Cozad Asset Management, said that the length of the run was partly in response to the positive earnings and merger news, but also reflective of the fact that day-to-day gains have been pretty small and market volatility has been limited.

"We haven't had many gigantic up days, we're just nickel and diming our way up the ladder," Kiddoo said. "People are more tempted to take profits one day after the Dow went up 200 points, than one day after it gained 30 points."

No major economic reports were released, but investors will be keeping an eye on the Federal Reserve's upcoming meeting. Central bank policymakers are widely expected to keep rates steady, but as always, traders will be poring over the policy statement from the meeting.

A proposed deal in the aluminum sector helped buoy the 30-stock Dow, where 19 shares rose and 11 fell.

Dow component Alcoa (up $2.87 to $38.53, Charts, Fortune 500), the world's largest aluminum producer, made a hostile bid worth $27 billion in cash and stock for No. 2 rival Alcan (up $20.80 to $81.83, Charts).

Alcoa shares jumped 7 percent, while Alcan shares jumped 33 percent.

Over the weekend, Armor Holdings (up $4.29 to $86.44, Charts) agreed to be bought by British defense contractor BAE Systems for $4.1 billion.

Meanwhile, Warren Buffett said his Berkshire Hathaway (Charts, Fortune 500) is open to making a major $5 billion to $20 billion investment in a "huge" business. (Full story)

Among tech shares, Yahoo (down $0.60 to $30.38, Charts, Fortune 500) shares dipped after surging Friday on rumors that Microsoft (Charts, Fortune 500) was looking to buy it in an effort to take on Google (Charts, Fortune 500).

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners topped losers 9 to 7 on volume of 1 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners edged advancers by a narrow margin on volume of 1.3 billion shares.

Treasury prices ticked higher, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 4.63 percent, down from 4.64 percent late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar slipped against the euro and the yen.

U.S. light crude oil for June delivery fell 43 cents to $61.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

COMEX gold rose 60 cents to $690.30 an ounce.