U.S. stocks inch up, as Wall Street closes higher for 4th straight week.

Stock Markets.

Wall Street, Dow Jones, NYSE, S&P 500, Nasdaq.

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks re-entered record territory on Friday, completing their fourth straight week of positive gains, as strong performances by a pair of telecom giants, outweighed losses from General Electric (NYSE:GE) following subdued quarterly earnings from the multinational conglomerate.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 53.62 or 0.29% to 18,570.85, while the S&P 500 Composite index added 9.86 or 0.46% to 2,175.03, as U.S. equities stayed on pace for their strongest month since March. The indices have remained in record territory for the majority of the last two weeks, as signals of slowing growth in the euro area and Japan, as well as plunging global bond yields have sent investors fleeing to safety into stocks on Wall Street. The S&P 500 ended the week at its highest closing level on record. The NASDAQ Composite index, meanwhile, rose by 26.26 or 0.52% to 5,100.16, moving approximately 2% from hitting a record-high.

On the S&P 500, nine of 10 sectors closed in the green as stocks in the Telecommunications, Utilities and Financials industries led. The telecom sector received a boost from AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which both gained more than 1% on the session. On Thursday evening, AT&T narrowly topped analysts' forecasts with its second quarter earnings, while increasing consolidated revenues by 22% to $40.5 billion for the three-month period ending in late-June. It came as the Dallas-based company reported a spike of 2.1 million wireless adds, 1.4 million of which came from the U.S.

Midway through the second quarter results period, approximately 3% of S&P 500 companies are reporting year-over-year earnings decreases, far below expectations for an aggregate decline of 4.5%, according to Reuters. Next week, roughly 40% of S&P 500 companies are set to report their quarterly earnings.

The top performer on the Dow was Visa Inc (NYSE:V), which added 1.12 or 1.42% to 79.91. Visa finished just ahead of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which gained 0.77 or 1.38% to 56.57. Earlier this week, Microsoft topped analysts' earnings and revenue estimates after sales among its closely-watched cloud product more than doubled on the quarter. Microsoft shares are up roughly 6% since the Redmond, Washington-based company released their second quarter results on Tuesday night.

The worst performer was GE, which fell 0.53 or 1.63% to 32.06 in Friday's session, after failing to appease investor sentiments on Friday in spite of beating consensus forecasts with its quarterly results. Although GE's revenues rose sharply in the second quarter on an annual basis, investors placed closer attention to weakness in the locomotive and oil-field equipment segment, where orders fell 16%, ex-acquistion and currency shifts. GE had been one of the top components on the Dow since last May when it last hit all-time record highs.

The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was Vodafone Group (LON:VOD) PLC (NASDAQ:VOD), which added 1.23 or 4.09% to 31.34. Shares in Vodafone are still down nearly 20% over the last year, including 10% during the last three months. The worst performer was Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SWKS), which tumbled 6.11 or 8.62% to 64.81. Shares in the Skyworks Solutions plummeted one day after the semiconductor manufacturer said its profits fell 9% last quarter on an annual basis. Skyworks Solutions, one of the top suppliers for the iPhone, reportedly has seen its revenues dented as Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) looks to reduce its channel inventory ahead of the iPhone 7 launch, according to a report from Fool.com.

On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by a 1,958-996 margin.

Goldman Sachs to invest $184 million in Brazil storage company: executive

Stock Markets

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (N:GS) will invest 600 million reais ($184 million) in Brazilian storage company Metrofit over the next 6 years, betting on a recovery from the harshest recession since the 1930s, a company executive said on Friday.

Metrofit, founded in 2012, is a joint venture between Brazilian real estate company TRX (SA:TRXL11) and U.S. company Metro Self Storage. The terms of the agreement with the U.S. investment bank were not disclosed.

The self storage business is growing in Brazil, despite the recession. Metrofit plans to build up to 10 storage sites a year in different state capitals, TRX's chief executive officer Luiz Augusto do Amaral said.

Metrofit's competitors GuardeAqui, controlled by Sam Zell's Equity International, and GoodStorage have announced expansion plans, taking the opportunity to buy cheap real estate during the recession.

"Goldman Sachs is betting on a longer term recovery", Amaral said. "And the timing is good to expand, since this year there is a lot of new real state coming to the market with prices lower than expected."

Metrofit owns two self-storage sites in the rich Sao Paulo metropolitan region and is building two others. The company may use part of the cash injection to fund acquisitions, Amaral said.

Earlier this week, Brazilian technology startup CargoX announced that Goldman Sachs had led a 35 million reais ($11 million) investment round for the company to help it fund an expansion.

L'Oreal acquires New Jersey-based IT Cosmetics in $1.2 billion cash deal

Stock Markets

Acquisitions and takeovers.

Investing.com -- L'Oréal (PA:OREP) S.A., the world largest cosmetics company, bolstered its vast inventory of unique, distinctive beauty products on Friday with the acquisition of IT Cosmetics.

On Friday afternoon, the Paris-based cosmetics giant announced that it came to terms on a definitive agreement to acquire the Jersey City, New Jersey-based beauty brand for $1.2 billion in cash. Founded only eight years ago, IT Cosmetics was developed by top plastic surgeons nationwide to help empower women with top of the line skincare and makeup products. IT Cosmetics offers more than 300 beauty products, ranging from color cosmetics and skincare items to brushes and tools, the company said in a statement.

"IT Cosmetics shares L'Oréal's passion for product innovation and our belief that offering beauty for all is a deeply purposeful mission," said Frédéric Rozé, President and CEO of L'Oréal USA. "The brand has earned the devotion of its highly engaged consumers and we see potential for significant growth in the years to come."

IT Cosmetics, which was founded in 2008 by Jamie Kern Lima and Paulo Lima, will become part of the Luxe Division of L'Oréal, the companies said. The brand will continue to operate out of its Jersey City, New Jersey headquarters under the current leadership team, IT Cosmetics said.

"At IT Cosmetics our mission is to make the world more beautiful through our products, through our actions and through our belief that every woman is beautiful and deserves to feel her most beautiful," said Jamie Kern Lima, Co-Founder & CEO, IT Cosmetics.

"Our makeup and skincare products are not only game-changing in their innovation, they are also life-changing for real women everywhere. Partnering with L'Oréal and utilizing the power of their global infrastructure will help us scale our mission in an even bigger way and we couldn't be more excited," Lima added.

Shares in L'Oreal closed Friday's session at €174.55, up 1.20 or 0.69%.

Silicon Valley leads avalanche of quarterly reports.

Stock Markets

Wall Street. Quarterly report.

By Noel Randewich

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A quartet of technology heavyweights will be part of an avalanche of quarterly corporate earnings reports next week that, along with a meeting of Federal Reserve policymakers, could hold the key to whether Wall Street extends its record-breaking rally or loses steam.

With second-quarter reporting season kicking into high gear, scorecards from Apple (O:AAPL), Alphabet (O:GOOGL), Amazon.com (O:AMZN) and Facebook (O:FB) will be front and center for investors eyeing the S&P 500's already-stretched valuation following a nearly 9-percent rally since June 27.

"These are very widely owned companies by institutional investors and there could be selling if the news is bad," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York.

A total of 194 S&P 500 companies are expected report their quarterly earnings next week; that is much higher than normal for any one week, even during most reporting seasons.

Of reports in so far, 54 percent have shown revenue above expectations, slightly better than the 48-percent beat rate over the past year.

Expectations for earnings also appear to be on the mend after over a year of declines caused by slumping oil prices and a strong dollar. Second-quarter profits are now forecast to dip 3.0 percent, less than the 4.5 percent drop expected at the start of July, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

With the S&P 500 trading at about 17 times expected earnings, valuations appear stretched, with some investors saying current stock prices presume better-than-expected results and forecasts from major companies.

Apple, Alphabet, Amazon and Facebook account for around 7 percent of the S&P 500 and a fifth of the Nasdaq Composite, which has lagged the broader stock market so far this year.

The S&P 500 is up 6 percent in 2016 while the Nasdaq has gained just 2 percent.

Many on Wall Street expect those leading technology firms to at least meet or slightly exceed analysts' forecasts, strategists said. A series of big surprises in either direction could lead to steep stock swings.

Indeed, shares of Amazon have whipsawed following its most recent reports, slumping 6 percent in one day after its December quarter profits missed expectations and surging 10 percent the day after its March-quarter results blew away forecasts.

Wall Street widely expects sales of Apple's iPhones to fall this year for the first time ever as it competes with cheaper rivals in China. But investors are banking on the release of a new smartphone later this year to return Apple to revenue growth in 2017.

"I'm looking at the numbers coming in next week, and Facebook, Google and Amazon should all be strong. Apple is the only one I'm concerned out because of the some of the issues they've had with lost market share," said Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust Company in Atlanta. His firm owns shares of Apple, Amazon and Alphabet.

On Tuesday and Wednesday the Federal Reserve holds its next policy meeting, with futures prices implying most investors expect no interest rate hike until March 2017. Following the market's quick rebound from Britain's unexpected June vote to leave the European Union, a minority of investors predict an increase as soon as September.

"They're going to start setting people up for September. The economy is clearly getting better and we're seeing less concern about international events," said Stephen Massocca, Chief Investment Officer of Wedbush Equity Management LLC in San Francisco.

Apple hands in its results on Tuesday, while Facebook reports on Wednesday and Amazon and Alphabet report on Thursday.