Stocks Ended at Records Highs, Helped by Apple Earnings

U.S. stocks closed at records on Friday, on the back of strong results at Apple. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 22.93 points, or 0.10%, to 23,539.19. The S&P 500 gained 7.99 points, or 0.31%, to 2,587.84. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 49.49 points, or 0.74%, to 6,764.44. For the week, the Dow added 0.5%, the S&P was up 0.3% and the Nasdaq advanced 0.9%.

Oil rallied Friday, with U.S. and global benchmark prices tallying their highest settlements in more than two years as a drop in the U.S. oil-rig count hinted at an output slowdown. December West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose $1.10, or 2%, to settle at $55.64 a barrel. Brent for January gained $1.45, or 2.4%, to finish at $62.07 a barrel.

Apple Inc. unleashed fiscal fourth-quarter results that demolished analyst expectations with a billion-dollar beat on net profit. Apple said late Thursday it logged fourth-quarter sales of $52 billion overall. Profit soared to $10.71 billion.

Communications chipmaker Broadcom Ltd (AVGO) is planning to unveil a bid for smartphone chip supplier Qualcomm Inc (QCOM) by Monday, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, an attempt to create a roughly $200-billion company in what would be the biggest technology acquisition ever.