NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing higher following strong earnings results and deal news from big U.S. companies.

The gains pushed the Dow Jones industrial average to its second record high close this month.

The Dow rose 77 points, or 0.5 percent, to 17,138 Wednesday, beating the record high close it set on July 3.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose eight points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,981. The Nasdaq composite rose nine points, or 0.2 percent, to 4,425.

Time Warner soared 17 percent on news that Rupert Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox had made a bid for the media giant.

Intel jumped 9 percent after reporting a surge in earnings as companies spent more on replacing PCs.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.53 percent.

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