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US stocks end at fresh records, European markets mixed

New York - Wall Street stocks pushed to fresh records on Monday, including the Dow's ninth straight all-time high, as a strong second-quarter earnings season continued to attract more funds to the US equity market.

The US performance, which also included a record for the S&P 500, came on a mixed day for European equities as the dollar gave up some of its gains from Friday.

Investors were upbeat after Friday's better-than-expected US jobs report for July and a generally strong earnings period reinforced confidence in the robustness of the US economy.

"The dog days of August are upon us, but Q2 earnings are giving investors something to howl about," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.

And there are still a handful of major earnings are on this week's calendar, including Disney and other media companies.

London pushed higher behind a strong performance for mining-oriented stocks such as Glencore and Antofagasta.

However, Frankfurt slid 0.3%, following an unexpected drop in German industrial production in June.

Paris picked up a few points at the closing bell after spending most of the day flat.

Asian equities advanced on Monday, spurred on by the strong US jobs figures which raised optimism over the health of the world's biggest economy.

Analysts said the robust job creation figures coupled with gradually rising wages could spur the US Federal Reserve to raise the cost of borrowing a third time this year to keep a tight rein on inflation.

But the dollar edged lower after Friday's rally. Key US inflation data this week will be scrutinized for their implications for a Fed rate hike later in the year.

"Any downside surprises to this week's inflation figures would . . . see the greenback succumb to renewed selling pressure," said Omer Esiner, analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange.

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