US STOCKS-Wall Street edges up as investors await economic reports

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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. (Reporting by Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru and David French in New York; Editing by Maju Samuel and Richard Chang)