NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 23, 2017 / U.S. markets rallied Friday as Donald Trump was sworn in as President. In his inauguration speech the President stated his administration would "follow two simple rules: buy American and hire American."

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.48 percent to close at 19,827.25, down 0.29 percent for the week, while the S&P 500 Index gained 0.34 percent to close at 2,271.31, down 0.15 percent for the week. The financial sector, which had experienced large gains post-election day till year end, rallied Friday on the strength of strong corporate earnings. The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund gained 0.48 percent on Friday, but was still down 1.53 percent for the week.

General Electric Company (NYSE: GE)

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General Electric's shares declined 2.18 percent to close at $30.53 a share Friday. The stock traded between $30.30 and $30.90 on volume of 83.55 million shares traded. The company reported earnings were $3.49 billion, or $0.39 a share, for the fourth quarter of 2016, down from $6.28 billion, or $0.64 a share, in the same quarter a year ago. Dragged by weakness in oil and gas unit, revenues were down to $33.09 billion for the quarter a decrease of 2.4 percent when compared to the same quarter a year ago. Analysts' expectations had called for earnings of $0.46 a share on revenues of $33.94 billion, according to FactSet.

GE's CFO Jeff Bornstein mentioned 2016 as an extremely difficult year for the oil and gas unit and that the company did not see any improvement until the second half of the year. In October 2016, GE announced the merger of its oil and gas business with Baker Hughes, creating the world's second-largest oilfield services provider, with revenue projected at $34 billion in 2020.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG)

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Procter & Gamble's shares increased 3.25 percent to close at $87.45 a share Friday. The stock traded between $86.42 and $87.97 on volume of 22.94 million shares traded. The company reported core earnings per share was $1.08 for the second quarter of fiscal 2017, which came in above analysts' estimates of $1.06 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Nets sales of $16.86 billion for the fiscal second quarter also topped expectations of $16.77 billion.

"We delivered good results in the second quarter in a difficult operating environment," said Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer David Taylor. "Stronger top-line performance in the first half of the fiscal year is enabling us to increase our organic sales growth outlook for the full year - another step towards the levels of balanced top-line, bottom-line, and cash flow growth that will consistently put P&G shareholder value creation among the best in our industry."

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