Stocks Ended Near Steady

U.S. stocks closed mixed and struggled to solidly extend a winning streak into a fourth session on Wednesday, with investors hesitant to make large moves after an extended winning run. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 7.04 points to 13,175.64. The S&P 500 edged 0.87 point higher to 1,402.22. The Nasdaq Composite fell 4.61 points, or 0.15%, to 3,011.25.

Google’s Internet search engine is getting more personal by highlighting information drawn from its users’ Gmail accounts on its main results page. The feature announced Wednesday marks Google’s latest attempt to deliver data that people are seeking more quickly as it tries to maintain the dominance of its lucrative Internet search engine.

Monster Beverage Corp.’s quarterly profit came in short of Wall Street’s expectations. The company’s second-quarter profit rose 30% to $110 million, or 59 cents a share.

RealNetworks Inc. on Wednesday reported a fiscal second-quarter profit of $81 million, or $2.32 a share, on revenue of $65.6 million, compared with a loss of $6.8 million, or 20 cents a share, on $83.8 million in sales in the same period a year ago.

Hewlett-Packard’s $8 billion goodwill charge announced Wednesday highlights the tech giant’s bad calls when it comes to buying other companies, analysts say. And there could be more write-offs to come, given what some see as H-P’s other recent, fumbled deals.

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