Stocks finished up nicely today and have now had positive gains for the past 4 weeks. The Dow 30 was up 217 (1.28%), the S&P 500 was up 32 (1.64%) and the Nasdaq 100 performed the best, gaining 86 (1.85%)A positive day for General Motors (GM  ) as the auto giant is taking another step in its development of autonomous technology. The company announced it has acquired self-driving software company Cruise Automation for an undisclosed amount. This deal comes just two months after GM bought the assets of former ride-hailing service Sidecar. Investors cheered the news today and the stock closed up 1.43%.

Recent IPO El Pollo Loco Holdings (LOCO  ) was under pressure after missing analysts' expectations for revenue in the fourth quarter. The stock fell 8.20% today as the company posted revenue of $86.3 million and said that its comparable restaurant sales for the year are expected to be "in the low single digits."

Beauty retailer Ulta Salon (ULTA  )  made new 52 week highs today as the they topped expectations, offered upbeat guidance, and announced it would speed up its share buyback program. Ulta Salon reported earnings per share of $1.69 on revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter. Shares finished the day near highs, up 17.28%.

Lastly, shares of Hertz (HTZ  ) popped 12.36% today as Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas upgraded Hertz's stock from underweight to overweight with a price target of $13. Jonas cited the company's new management as a reason for the upgrade. While HTZ is still down on the year the short term strength show that investors eager to jump in.