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Indexes up: Dow 0.14%, S&P 500 0.15%, Nasdaq 0.34%

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Nasdaq on course for record closing high

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Crypto stocks jump as Bitcoin hits $123,000 mark

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Waters to merge with Becton's diagnostics arm, shares fall

(Adds latest stock moves, market details)

By Pranav Kashyap and David French

July 14 (Reuters) - Wall Street stocks edged higher on

Monday, with investors shrugging off another round of tariff

threats from U.S. President Donald Trump and holding firm on

convictions ahead of a busy week of economic data and the start

of earnings season.

Trump ramped up trade tensions over the weekend, vowing to

slap a 30% tariff on most imports from the European Union and

Mexico starting August 1 - leaving the clock ticking for

last-minute trade deals.

The EU extended its pause on retaliatory measures until

early August, holding out hope for a negotiated truce. The White

House said talks with the EU, Canada and Mexico are still

underway.

Despite the headlines, investor reaction was muted, having

grown numb to Trump's barrage of tariff threats and his frequent

last-minute U-turns.

Markets have been buoyant in recent weeks, even as Trump has

rattled his tariff saber, with both the S&P 500 and

Nasdaq Composite hitting record highs last week.

While gains were modest on Monday, the Nasdaq Composite

was on course to post a fresh high mark.

Looming on the horizon though is a raft of new reports

on the state of the U.S. economy. Second-quarter earnings season

kicks off this week, with a number of Wall Street's banking

heavyweights set to report on Tuesday.

Tuesday is also the scheduled release of the latest consumer

price data, which is expected to reveal an inflation uptick in

June as sellers started passing on the cost of sweeping tariffs.

Wednesday's producer and import price reports will offer

fresh insight into how supply chain pressures are shaping up.

"It is a pause ahead of really big news, which is CPI and

earnings. Nobody wants to get offside ahead of the big news,"

said Jay Hatfield at Infrastructure Capital Advisors.

"They just hold their positions and wait."

As of 1:51 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 61.61 points, or 0.14%, to 44,434.36. The S&P 500

gained 9.61 points, or 0.15%, at 6,269.36, and the Nasdaq

Composite advanced 68.60 points, or 0.34%, to 20,654.70.

Five of the 11 S&P sectors were in positive territory.

Communication services led the way, helped by

gains in Netflix ( NFLX ), which reports earnings on Thursday,

as well as Warner Bros. Discovery ( WBD ), whose latest Superman

caper had a strong opening weekend at the box office.

Of the decliners, the energy index was hardest hit,

down 1.3% as crude prices slipped from a near-three-week high.

Chip stocks came under pressure, with Micron Technology ( MU )

down 4% and Intel ( INTC ) falling 0.6%.

Investors are also monitoring tensions between the White

House and the Federal Reserve, after economic adviser Kevin

Hassett said over the weekend that Trump might have cause to

fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, citing cost overruns from the U.S.

central bank's headquarters renovation.

While traders have almost fully ruled out a July rate cut,

the probability for a September move stands at around 60%,

according to CME FedWatch.

Crypto stocks ticked up after Bitcoin topped $123,000

for the first time. Coinbase rose 2.1%, while

MicroStrategy ( MSTR ) gained 3%.

Waters Corp ( WAT ) dropped 11.7% after the lab equipment

maker agreed to merge with rival Becton, Dickinson and Company's ( BDX )

Biosciences & Diagnostic Solutions unit in a $17.5

billion deal.