Stocks Eke Out to Records Again

U.S. stocks mostly inched higher on Wednesday, ahead of the highly anticipated June payrolls report. The Dow
industrials rose 20.17 points, or 0.12%, to end at 16,976.24. The S&P 500 nudged up 1.30 points, or 0.07%, to finish at 1,974.62. The Nasdaq COMP fell 0.92 point, or 0.02%, to close at 4,457.73.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the central bank is prepared to raise interest rates to pop price bubbles in assets such as corporate or junk bonds if financial distress in those sectors developed and standard regulation were insufficient.

Facebook is diving deeper into the Web video advertising business. The company announced on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement to acquire the ad technology firm LiveRail.

Amazon.com Inc. is bucking a request from the Federal Trade Commission that it tighten its policies for purchases made by children while using mobile applications.

Delta Air Lines Inc on Wednesday reported that an important revenue measure rose less than its forecast in June due to international weakness, sending U.S. airline stocks lower. Delta said passenger revenue per available seat mile increased 4.5 percent in June, trailing its forecast calling for an increase of as much as 7 percent.