TheStreet Live

AT&T ( ) reached a deal over the weekend to buy Time Warner ( ) for $85 billion dollars. With the merger, AT&T would own HBO, TNT, TBS and CNN. AT&T wants Time Warner as it wants the content for its customers to download on mobile devices. Public interest groups say the combined group could gather more information about its customers to target advertising. The merger would need to pass regulatory scrutiny, and there was already been some pushback from some lawmakers. TD Bank ( ) announced it will buy Scottrade in a deal that will combine its discount brokerage units as well as some banking functions. The total deal is worth $4 billion. The Chicago Cubs final home game of the World Series is tracking to be among the most expensive tickets in sports event history. Tickets for all 3 games in Chicago have an average listing price of more than $3500.00, according to SeatGeek. Game 5 tickets are going for $4600.00

A positive earnings report from Microsoft and a weaker one from GE pulled markets in different directions for much of the day. Wall Street ended a choppy session mixed. Drilling activity in the U.S. rose in the past week, a move in the wrong direction for commodity traders worried about domestic and international oversupply. The number of active oil rigs rose by 11 in the past week. Schlumberger tumbled after reporting a mixed third quarter in which it exceeded earnings estimates but fell short on sales. Revenue dropped just over 17% as low oil prices continued to beat up the industry. Skechers slumped after missing third-quarter estimates and guiding for a below-consensus fourth quarter. The footwear brand blamed a shorter back-to-school season this year.

Stocks turned mixed as Microsoft pulled the Nasdaq higher and General Electric dragged on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. A better-than-expected quarter from Microsoft pushed its shares to trade at new records. Time Warner spiked on reports AT&T execs are in advanced talks to purchase the media company. A deal could be announced as soon as this weekend, according to the Dow Jones. Honeywell reported a mixed quarter, topping earnings but falling short on sales. The company blamed surprise weakness in September and overall softness in its aerospace business. Honeywell expects earnings to grow by double digits in the current quarter. PayPal jumped as the number of active customer accounts drove an 18% increase in quarterly sales. The number of active accounts rose 11% over its third quarter.

U.S. stocks traded lower on Friday, despite a slew of strong earnings reports. The S&P 500 remains stuck in a narrow trading range, as investors grapple with a number of wildcards over the next few months. "When I look at where the S&P is - I think there is a lot on investors' minds and they're trying to figure out whether the next big move is to the upside or to the downside," said David Lebovitz, global markets, strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, referring to uncertainty surrounding upcoming central bank meetings and the presidential election. General Electric reported earnings of $0.32 a share for its third quarter, beating estimates of $0.30. Revenue of $29.3 billion missed estimates of $29.6 billion. Low oil prices impacted the industrials giant, with oil and gas revenue dropping 25% during the quarter. Microsoft shares were on track to open at a record high after reporting earnings of $0.76 a share, topping forecasts of $0.68. Revenue of $22.3 billion also beat Wall Street's forecasts of $21.7 billion. Revenue from Microsoft's cloud product, Azure, rose 116%. McDonald's shares surged after posting third quarter earnings of $1.50 a share, beating the Street's forecast by two pennies. Revenue of $6.4 billion eclipsed the $6.3 billion analysts were looking for. TheStreet's Scott Gamm reports from Wall Street.

Microsoft (MSFT) shares hit a new all time high. It's cloud business drove the gains, as sales have doubled. Microsoft ranks second in selling computer power and data storage capacity on demand over the internet, behind Amazon. Microsoft also said it expects its merger with LinkedIn (LNKD) to close in the spring. British American Tobacco said it has made an unsolicited $47 billion takeover offer for the rest of its American peer Reynolds American (RAI). The deal would create the world's largest tobacco company. The industry has been mired in litigation but at the same time, still enjoys steady profits. Qualcomm (QCOM) could be on the verge of a massive deal. Bloomberg says the tech giant is in the final stages of negotiations to buy NXP Semicondcutrs for about $30 billion bucks.

Stocks returned to the red this afternoon after crude oil closed under $51 a barrel. Oil retreated from the year's highs set a day earlier.

Stocks accelerated losses throughout the morning as crude oil retreated from its highest level of the year. Oil settled Wednesday at its best level since July last year. Verizon

U.S. stocks moved lower Thursday amid inaction from the European Central Bank. The ECB left benchmark interest rates steady and maintained its 80 billion euro a month bond purchase program, which is set to end in March of 2017. Though analysts expect the program to be extended.

Wall Street didn't hear much new from the presidential candidates about the economy during the debate last night. Democrat Hillary Clinton said she will grow the American economy by focusing on the middle class and building the largest job-creation program since World War II. She said she wants to create new clean energy jobs. Republican Donald Trump promised to cut taxes and renegotiate trade deals that he has have hurt American manufacturing. Tesla Motors ( ) says its electric cars will be the first in the nation to all be fitted with the hardware needed to drive themselves. CEO Elon Musk says the Model S, X, and forthcoming Model 3 Sedan will start being outfitted with full driving self driving capability. Oil prices are retreating as profit taking sets in. Crude oil prices hit a 15 month high Wednesday on a bigger than expected draw in U.S. stocks and an expectation of an OPEC led cut in production.

Stocks ended the day with modest gains thanks to a rally in crude oil that pushed it to its best settlement since July 2015. The energy sector was the top performer on Wall Street.