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Countries outside of OPEC are now agreeing to cut oil output. The Wall Street Journal reports the move is aimed at pushing the oversupplied oil market into a rebalance, or even a deficit, to prop up a crude market that has been stuck in a 2 year slump. Oil Prices are surging as a result, gaining more than 4%. The long time CEO of Exxon Mobil (XOM) looks like the lead pick for United States Secretary of State. Although not confirmed, reports are that Rex Tillerson is the likely choice of President-elect Donald Trump. Meanwhile, former Texas Governor Rick Perry is said to be on the shortlist for Secretary of Energy. Perry serves on the board of Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), the company behind the controversial pipeline project that was recently put on hold by the Obama Administration. Boeing (BA) completed a deal over the weekend to sell 80 jetliners to Iran. This is the first m ajor agreement between a U.S. company and the Islamic Republic since the election of Donald Trump, who is a critic of closer links between the countries.

Stocks moved higher, putting indexes on pace to close at records again. The health care sector drove gains, making a comeback after a bruising week. Drugmakers were hit hard after President-elect Trump suggested he would target high drug prices. Consumer confidence improved in early December as the economy continued to recover and Wall Street held at highs. Sentiment climbed at a faster-pace than expected. Vail Resorts climbed despite suffering a weaker recent quarter tied to warmer November weather. The ski resort company reported a loss wider than it had seen in the year-ago quarter. Autodesk was upgraded to BUY from HOLD at Canaccord. The firm said the company had an upbeat analyst day and can materially grow free cash flow in the next several quarters.

U.S. stocks gained steam as the Dow Jones Industrial Average inches closer to 20,000. Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent announced he is stepping down and will be replaced by current president and chief operating officer James Quincey on May 1. Kent, who has been CEO for 8 years, will stay on as Chairman. Restoration Hardware shares plunged after lowering its full-year earnings outlook. It now expects full-year earnings per share of between $1.19 and $1.29, compared to a previously reported range of $1.60 to $1.80. Casino stocks such as Wynn Resorts , Las Vegas Sands and MGM Resorts International were in focus after Chinese regulators were set to limit how much money consumers can withdraw from ATMs. TheStreet's Scott Gamm reports from Wall Street.

Stocks turned higher in uneven trade as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 attempted to set new records with just small gains. The Dow and S&P had closed Wednesday at fresh records. Tailored Brands surged after swinging to a profit in its recent quarter. The parent company of Jos.A Bank also anticipates same-store sales to grow in the mid- to high-single percentage digits over the fourth quarter. Advanced Micro Devices jumped after an analysts' double upgrade. Bank of America upped its rating on the chipmaker to BUY from UNDERPERFORM and more than doubled its price target. The firm said AMD has high risk-reward potential. H&R Block fell after posting a quarterly loss. However, the tax preparation company did see a loss slightly narrower than expected, while revenue inched higher.

U.S. stocks gained steam after the European Central Bank decided to extend the timeline of its bond stimulus. The ECB will continue to purchase 80 billion euros of assets per month until March 2017. Starting in April, the purchases will drop to 60 billion euros a month until December 2017. ECB President Mario Draghi also said the central bank can buy bonds yielding lower than minus 0.4%, a restriction that was previously in place. Lululemon shares surging after reporting third quarter earnings of $0.47 a share, beating estimates of $0.43. Revenue rose 13% year over year to $544.4 million, topping estimates. Comparable store sales rose 7%. Sears reported an adjusted loss of $3.11 a share, deeper than the $2.86 a share loss in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue declined 14% to $5 billion. Costco shares rose after reporting earnings of $1.24 a share, beating estimates of $1.19. Same store sales rose 1%. TheStreet's Scott Gamm reports from Wall Street.

U.S. stocks haven't had two down days in a row in a month. Now, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is closing in on 20,000, less than 500 points away. The blue chips have now gained 6.5% since the election. The Russell 2000-an index of smaller companies--has been even more impressive, hitting all time highs. The largest union representing grocery store workers has come out against Amazon's launch of a store without cashiers. The head of the United Food and Commercial Workers International union says Amazon ( ) believes that America's hardworking men and women are irrelevant to customers but they couldn't be more wrong. Amazon says there will be plenty of things for people to do at the Amazon Go store. 38 cars earned the top safety pick from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The group raised the bar for safety of headlights and that's why there are fewer of them that made the cut this year. At the top was Toyota ( ) and its luxury brand Lexus.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average traded with slight gains after hitting new intraday records earlier in the session. Broad gains across all sectors boosted the indexes, putting the Dow on track to post another record close. The health care sector was the lone segment in the red as biotechs sold off. President-elect Donald Trump indicated he would target price-gouging in the industry, a cause Democrats had recently championed. Job openings were unchanged in October, though remained at a level consistent with labor market strength. The number of people voluntarily leaving their job was also unchanged, according to the JOLTS report. Domestic crude inventories fell at a slightly-faster pace over the past week than analysts expected. Crude remained lower, though, on concerns an OPEC deal would not significantly address a global supply glut.

Skeptical Senators will question the CEO's of AT&T ( ) and Time Warner ( ) today on Capitol Hill about their proposed $85 billion merger. The executives are expected to pitch the benefits as being good for consumers. The deal promises to merge content with distribution in an age of changing cable TV. It will have to get approval from federal regulators before it is complete. Softbank shares surged in Japan after it announced a $50 billion dollar deal to invest in tech start ups in the United States. The head of the Japanese investment firm Masayoshi Son made the announcement with President-elect Donald Trump in New York. Software already owns most of Sprint and several years ago tried to buy T-mobile U.S. but gave up because of opposition from Obama administration antitrust regulators. Starbucks ( ) is holding its investor day today. It will be the first such investor day since CEO Howard Schultz announced he will step down from that role.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average's winning streak continued with the index closing higher for the 18th time in 22 sessions and clinching a record settlement for the third day in a row. The S&P also scored a record. Fitbit moved slightly higher after announcing the acquisition of IP and personnel assets of smartwatch developer Pebble. The purchase should help the fitness tracker company ramp up development of third-party apps for its products. Credit Suisse climbed after announcing job cuts intended to cut costs. The bank will eliminate 6,000 positions, resulting in more than 1 billion Swiss francs in savings. Mylan slumped alongside other health care stocks after disclosing restructuring plans. The drugmaker aims to streamline operations at global facilities, resulting in cuts to less than 10% of its total workforce.

The Blue Chips are up 5% since the election but new highs may be harder to conquer. U.S. stocks could be on hold for a few days ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting next week. Other global Central Banks also meet soon including the Bank of Japan and Bank of England. More expensive homes are boosting Toll Brothers ( ) bottom line. The homebuilder reported a 29% rise in quarterly revenue, boosted by higher home sales and an increase in average selling prices. The company said its revenue rose to $1.86 billion in the 4th quarter from $1.44 billion a year earlier. Tech giants Youtube, Facebook ( ), Twitter ) and Microsoft ( ) will step up efforts to remove extremist content from their websites by creating a common database. The companies will share unique digital fingerprints they automatically assign to videos or photos of extremist content they have removed from their websites to enable their peers to identify the same content on their platforms.