Economics

S&P 500 Advances for Seventh Straight Week Amid Deals

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U.S. stocks rose for the week, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to its longest winning streak in two years, amid optimism over corporate dealmaking and better-than-estimated economic data.

H.J. Heinz Co. rallied 19 percent after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and 3G Capital agreed to buy the ketchup maker. General Electric Co. climbed 3.5 percent as Comcast Corp. agreed to buy the remainder of NBC Universal. The S&P 500 fell on the last trading day as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. slumped after e-mails showed the world’s largest retailer had the worst sales start to a month in seven years.