NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks edged back from their record levels on Friday in a quiet finish to another winning week. The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% from the all-time high it set the day before, as it closed its fourth winning week in the last five. The Dow Jones Industrial Average flirted with its own record, which was set in December, before ending just below the mark with a rise of 34 points, or 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite dipped 0.4%, though it’s still near its record set on Wednesday. The U.S. stock market reached all-time highs this past week as expectations built that the Federal Reserve will deliver a cut to interest rates at its next meeting in September. Lower rates can boost investment prices and the economy by making it cheaper for U.S. households and businesses to borrow to buy houses, cars or equipment, but they also risk worsening inflation. A disappointing report about inflation at the U.S. wholesale level made traders pare back bets for coming cuts to interest rates on Thursday, but they’re still overwhelmingly expecting them. Such anticipation has sent Treasury yields lower in the bond market, though they inched higher Friday following some mixed updates on the economy. One said shoppers boosted their spending at U.S. retailers last month, as economists expected, while another said that manufacturing in New York state unexpectedly grew. A third said industrial production across the country shrank last month, when economists were looking for modest growth. Another report suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers is worsening because of worries about inflation, when economists expected to see a slight improvement. “Overall, consumers are no longer bracing for the worst-case scenario for the economy feared in April,” when President Donald Trump announced his stunning set of worldwide tariffs, according to Joanne Hsu, director of the University of Michigan’s surveys of consumers. “However, consumers continue to expect both inflation and unemployment to deteriorate in the future.” On Wall Street, UnitedHealth Group jumped 12% after famed investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway said it bought nearly 5 million shares of the insurer during the spring, valued at $1.57 billion. Buffett is known for trying to buy good stocks at affordable prices, and UnitedHealth’s halved for the year by the end of July because of a run of struggles. Berkshire Hathaway’s own stock slipped 0.4%. Applied Materials helped lead Wall Street lower with a decline of 14.1% even though it reported better results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The focus was on the company’s forecast for a drop in revenue during the current quarter. Its products help manufacture semiconductors and advanced displays, and CEO Gary Dickerson pointed to a “dynamic macroeconomic and policy environment, which is creating increased uncertainty and lower visibility in the near term, including for our China business.” Sandisk fell 4.6% despite reporting a profit for the latest quarter that blew past analysts’ expectations. Investors focused instead on the data storage company’s forecast for profit in the current quarter, which came up short of Wall Street’s. All told, the S&P 500 fell 18.74 points to 6,449.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 34.86 to 44,946.12, and the Nasdaq composite sank 87.69 to 21,622.98. In stock markets abroad, indexes rose 0.8% in Shanghai but fell 1% in Hong Kong after data showed China’s economy may have slowed in July under pressure from uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariffs. “Chinese economic activity slowed across the board in July, with retail sales, fixed asset investment, and value added of industry growth all reaching the lowest levels of the year. After a strong start, several months of cooling momentum suggest that the economy may need further policy support,” ING Economics said in a market commentary. Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.7% after the government said its economy grew at a better-than-expected pace in the latest quarter. European stock indexes finished mixed before Trump began his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which could dictate where the war in Ukraine is heading. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.31% from 4.29% late Thursday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, rose to 3.75% from 3.74% late Thursday. ___ AP Writer Teresa Cerojano contributed.

NEW YORK (AP) — Target and Ulta Beauty are parting ways, ending a partnership launched in 2021 that created in-store shops filled with beauty products at hundreds of the discounter's stores. According to a joint release issued Thursday, the companies said they have “mutually agreed" not to renew their pact, which concludes in August 2026. Until then, the Ulta Beauty experience at Target will continue in Target stores and on Target.com, the release said. Ulta is currently in 600 of Target's roughly 1,980 stores, according to a Target spokesperson. “For 35 years, Ulta Beauty has revolutionized how people experience beauty — bringing together an unmatched assortment from mass to luxury — and our partnership with Target was one of many unique ways we have brought the power of beauty to guests nationwide,” said Amiee Bayer-Thomas, chief retail officer of Ulta Beauty, in a statement. Rick Gomez, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Target, said in a statement he was committed to "offering the beauty experience consumers have come to expect from Target.” The partnership was announced in 2020 and came as the coronavirus pandemic upended shopping habits and more people tried to minimize potential exposure to the virus through one-stop shopping. COVID had dampened sales of lipstick as people wore masks, but the skincare business enjoyed stronger sales. The shops are about 1,000 square feet and carry makeup, skincare, and fragrance and operated beside existing beauty sections in Target stores. The deal was a way for both Target and Ulta to increase their customer base. “It’s a combination of two winning retailers that have great momentum in the market that can redefine the category,” Target CEO Brian Cornell told The Associated Press back in 2020. The announcement comes as Target is struggling to regain its footing with its shoppers who are pulling back on discretionary items and are shopping at other rivals that they believe to be lower price or offer better merchandise. Target is slated to report its fiscal second-quarter results on Wednesday. Target is also expected to announce a succession plan for a new CEO to replace president and CEO Brian Cornell, who took the helm in 2014. In September 2022, Target extended Cornell’s contract for three more years, but the retailer never publicly gave an official time frame.

Shares of UnitedHealth Group are surging before the market open Friday as Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it recently purchased shares of the beleaguered insurer. Berkshire Hathaway bought around 5 million shares of UnitedHealth last quarter, according to a regulatory filing. The stake was valued at about $1.57 billion. Buffett plans to retire as CEO at the end of the year after six decades of building Berkshire Hathaway. Many investors comb through Berkshire’s filings every quarter because they like to follow Buffett’s moves. The filing doesn’t make clear who at Berkshire handled the investment. Besides Buffett, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs also pick stocks, but they generally handle smaller portfolios and Combs also serves as Geico’s CEO. Besides stocks, Berkshire owns dozens of companies in a variety of industries including Geico insurance, BNSF railroad, several major utilities and an assortment of manufacturing and retail companies. The Omaha, Nebraska-based company’s holdings include many well-known brands like See’s Candy and Dairy Queen. UnitedHealth has been dealing with a series of difficulties. Last month the company said that it was cooperating with federal criminal and civil investigations involving its market-leading Medicare business. The health care giant said at the time that it had contacted the Department of Justice after reviewing media reports about investigations into certain elements of its business. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal said federal officials had launched a civil fraud investigation into how the company records diagnoses that lead to extra payments for its Medicare Advantage, or MA, plans. Those are privately run versions of the government’s Medicare coverage program mostly for people ages 65 and over. The company’s UnitedHealthcare business covers more than 8 million people as the nation’s largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans. The business has been under pressure in recent quarters due to rising care use and rate cuts. The Journal said in February, citing anonymous sources, that the probe focused on billing practices in recent months. The paper has since said that a federal criminal health care-fraud unit was investigating how the company used doctors and nurses to gather diagnoses that bolster payments. UnitedHealth Group Inc. runs one of the nation’s largest health insurance and pharmacy benefits management businesses. It also operates a growing Optum business that provides care and technology support. UnitedHealth's stock has mostly shed value since December, when UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot in midtown Manhattan on his way to the company’s annual investor meeting. A suspect, Luigi Mangione, has been charged in connection with the shooting. In April, shares plunged some more after the company cut its forecast due to a spike in health care use. A month later, former CEO Andrew Witty resigned, and the company withdrew its forecast entirely, saying that medical costs from new Medicare Advantage members were higher than expected. UnitedHealth's stock jumped more than 12% in premarket trading on Friday. Still, the stock has lost roughly half its value in the past year.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Berkshire Hathaway revealed four new investments Thursday in steelmaker Nucor, insurer UnitedHealth and two of the nation's biggest homebuilders — Lennar and DR Horton — but it's not clear if the investments are big enough to ensure that legendary investor Warren Buffett handled them. Buffett, who plans to retire as CEO at the end of the year after six decades of building Berkshire, handles all of the conglomerate's biggest investments worth $1 billion or more. Three of the new investments disclosed Thursday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission are worth less than that, so they could be the ideas of one of Berkshire's two other investment managers. But Berkshire’s new UnitedHealth stake that was also revealed Thursday was worth $1.57 billion, so that one could be big enough to be Buffett’s handiwork. Berkshire got permission from the SEC to keep the other three investments confidential earlier this year while it built those stakes, but it apparently bought nearly 5 million UnitedHealth shares just in the second quarter. That stock jumped nearly 8% in aftermarket trading. Berkshire's filings simply offer a snapshot of its $258 billion portfolio at the end of the second quarters. Many investors comb through Berkshire's filings every quarter because they like to follow Buffett's moves. His record of trouncing the S&P 500 for decades has inspired legions of followers. The filing doesn't make clear who at Berkshire handled each investment. Besides Buffett, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs also pick stocks, but they generally handle smaller portfolios and Combs also serves as Geico's CEO. But Buffett has had a hard time finding stocks or any other investments in recent years that he wants to invest much of Berkshire's $344 billion cash in. Berkshire's Nucor stake of 6.6 million shares was the biggest new investment worth roughly $857 million at the end of the quarter. Shares of that company rose more than 6% in extended after-hours trading. The Lennar investment was worth nearly $800 million. While the DR Horton stake was much smaller worth $191.5 million. Those companies' stocks also saw gains in late trading Buffett already knows quite a lot about the home building business because Berkshire owns the nation's largest manufactured homebuilder, Clayton Homes. Besides stocks, Berkshire owns dozens of companies in a variety of industries including Geico insurance, BNSF railroad, several major utilities and an assortment of manufacturing and retail companies. The Omaha, Nebraska-based company's holdings include many well-known brands like See's Candy and Dairy Queen.

NEW YORK (AP) — WK Kellogg Co. plans to remove artificial dyes from its breakfast cereals in the next two and a half years, according to the company and the attorney general of Texas. The maker of Froot Loops and Apple Jacks gave the timeline as U.S. food producers face increasing pressure from the U.S. government and consumers to phase out synthetic colorings from their products. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Wednesday that Kellogg had signed an agreement assuring his office that the Michigan-based company would “permanently remove toxic dyes" from its cereals by the end of 2027. Paxton launched an investigation earlier this year into whether Kellogg violated state consumer protection laws by continuing to use blue, red, yellow, green, and orange artificial dyes. Around the same time, U.S. health officials said that they would urge foodmakers to voluntarily work toward removing petroleum-based colors. Both Kellogg and General Mills, another major U.S. cereal maker, said they would. General Mills later joined Kraft Heinz, Nestle, Smuckers and some other food manufacturers in announcing target dates for making all their products without artificial dyes. But Paxton's office said Kellogg was the first to sign a “legally binding” agreement. “Following months of investigating and negotiating, I’m proud to officially say Kellogg’s will stop putting these unhealthy ingredients in its cereals,” the attorney general said in a statement. Details about the terms of the agreement Kellogg signed, which is legally known as an assurance of voluntary compliance, were not immediately clear. The company did not comment on it directly when reached by The Associated Press on Thursday but said it appreciates “the opportunity to work collaboratively with the Texas AG’s office and share their focus on health and wellness.” Kellogg also pointed to its earlier commitment to phase out FD&C dyes, which are synthetic additives that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved for use in food, drugs and cosmetics. It said it already planned to stop launching new products with the dyes in January. “We have announced we are reformulating our cereals served in schools to not include FD&C colors by the 2026-27 school year,” Kellogg said in an emailed statement Thursday. By the end of 2027, “we will completely remove FD&C colors from the small percentage of our foods that contain them today.” According to Kellogg's website, 85% of the cereal the company sells contains no FD&C colors — and none of its products have included Red No. 3 for years. Federal regulators banned that dye from food in January. Synthetic dyes have long been used to make brightly colored cereals, drinks, candies, baked goods and even products like cough syrup. But health advocates have called for the removal of artificial dyes from foods, citing mixed studies indicating they can cause neurobehavioral problems, including hyperactivity and attention issues, in some children. The FDA has maintained that its currently approved dyes are safe and that “the totality of scientific evidence shows that most children have no adverse effects when consuming foods containing color additives.” Pressure on the food industry has increased since Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an outspoken critic of such synthetic additives, became President Donald Trump's health secretary.

Russian authorities announced Wednesday they were “partially” restricting calls in messaging apps Telegram and WhatsApp, the latest step in an effort to tighten control over the internet. In a statement, government media and internet regulator Roskomnadzor justified the measure as necessary for fighting crime, saying that “according to law enforcement agencies and numerous appeals from citizens, foreign messengers Telegram and WhatsApp have become the main voice services used to deceive and extort money, and to involve Russian citizens in sabotage and terrorist activities.” The regulator also alleged that “repeated requests to take countermeasures have been ignored by the owners of the messengers.” There was no immediate comment from either platform. Russian authorities have long engaged in a deliberate and multipronged effort to rein in the internet. Over the years, they have adopted restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that won’t comply. Technology has been perfected to monitor and manipulate online traffic. While it’s still possible to circumvent restrictions by using virtual private network services, those are routinely blocked, too. Authorities further restricted internet access this summer with widespread shutdowns of cellphone internet connections and by adopting a law punishing users for searching for content they deem illicit. They have also threatened to go after WhatsApp — one of the most popular platforms in the country — while rolling out a new “national” messaging app that’s widely expected to be heavily monitored. Reports that calls were being disrupted in WhatsApp and Telegram appeared in Russian media earlier this week, with users complaining about calls not going through or not being able to hear each other speak. According to Russian media monitoring service Mediascope, WhatsApp in July was the most popular platform in Russia, with over 96 million monthly users. Telegram, with more than 89 million users, came a close second. Both platforms had their run-ins with the Russian authorities in the past. The Kremlin tried to block Telegram between 2018-20 but failed. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the government blocked major social media like Facebook and Instagram, and outlawed their parent company, Meta, that also owns WhatsApp, as extremist. In July, lawmaker Anton Gorelkin said WhatsApp “should prepare to leave the Russian market,” and a new “national” messenger, MAX, developed by Russian social media company VK, would take its place. MAX, promoted as a one-stop shop for messaging, online government services, making payments and more, was rolled out for beta tests but has yet to attract a wide following. Over 2 million people registered by July, the Tass news agency reported. Its terms and conditions say it will share user data with authorities upon request, and a new law stipulates its preinstallation in all smartphones sold in Russia. State institutions, officials and businesses are actively encouraged to move communications and blogs to MAX.

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is now rolling out a service where its Prime members can order their blueberries and milk at the same time as their batteries, T-shirts and other basic items. The online juggernaut said Wednesday that customers in more than 1,000 cities and towns now have access to fresh groceries with its free same-day delivery service on orders over $25 for Prime members, with plans to reach over 2,300 by the end of the year. The move marks one of the most significant grocery expansions for the online retailer as Amazon introduces thousands of perishable food items into its existing logistics network. The expansion is expected to put more pressure on grocery delivery services offered by such rivals as Walmart, Kroger and Target, which all saw their shares take a hit in early trading Wednesday. Amazon's shares rose 1%. Amazon said that if an order doesn’t meet the minimum, members can still choose same-day delivery for a $2.99 fee. For customers without a Prime membership, the service is available with a $12.99 fee, regardless of order size. In the past, Prime subscribers’ grocery orders were fulfilled through Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods. Prime members pay $14.99 monthly or $149 annually. “We’re continuously innovating to make grocery shopping simpler, faster, and more affordable for our customers, especially Prime members,” said Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, in a statement. “By introducing fresh groceries into our Same-Day Delivery service, we’re creating a quick and easy experience for customers. ” Herrington noted that customers can order milk alongside electronics; oranges, apples, and potatoes with a mystery novel; and frozen pizza at the same time as tools for their next home improvement project—and check out with one cart and have everything delivered to their doorstep within hours. Amazon said it generated over $100 billion in gross sales of groceries and household essentials last year not including sales from Whole Foods Market and Amazon Fresh. In June, Amazon said it was investing more than $4 billion to triple the size of its delivery network by 2026, with a focus on small towns and rural communities across the country. It also noted that it's using artificial intelligence to help it predict local customer preferences so it can stock popular items alongside items targeted for specific communities.