Weekly Market Wrap: February 8, 2013
Friday, February 8, 3:58 PM ET

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Hi. I'm Kristin Bianco. Welcome to the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for February 8, 2013.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were lower for the week on Friday afternoon, and the Nasdaq was higher.

Crude oil futures are lower this week, trading around $95.70 per barrel on Friday afternoon.

Gold futures are slightly little changed this week, trading at $1666.41 an ounce in afternoon trading.

In notable economic news this week, the Labor Department announced that first-time jobless benefits claims fell by 5,000 to 366,000 this past week. Initial claims for unemployment benefits dropped to 366,000 from 371,000. The four-week rolling average for the week fell 2,250 to 350,500.

In corporate news this week, Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) announced that it will purchase networking equipment vendor Acme Packet (APKT) for $2.1 billion, or $1.7 billion net of cash. The purchase price represents a premium of 22% to the stock's closing price on Friday. Oracle believes that the merger will accelerate a migration to all-IP networks, and will allow the software company to provide customers with a broader range of services.

Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM) announced that it earned $510 million or 77 cents per share during the most recent fiscal quarter, up from $80 million, or 12 cents per share during the same period last year when it was undergoing a restructuring. Excluding certain items, earnings were 60 cents per share versus 51 cents in the same period last year.

Kellogg (NYSE:K) announced that it lost $32 million, or 9 cents per share, versus $195 million, or 54 cents per share, during the same period last year. Not counting a mark to market accounting change, the company earned 65 cents per share, down from 71 cents a year ago. Revenue increased to $3.56 billion from $3.02 billion. The company reiterated its 2013 outlook, saying it expects earnings growth of 5 to 7 percent and sales growth of 7 percent.

Sprint (NYSE:S) announced that it lost $1.3 billion during the fourth quarter, roughly the same as the same period last year. The loss amounted to 44 cents per share versus 43 cents per share a year earlier. Analysts had expected a loss of 46 cents per share. Revenue was $9 billion, 3.2 percent higher than a year ago, and beating expectations of $8.9 billion. The increase was attributed to customers switching to higher paying smartphone plans.

Professional social network LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) announced that profit increased by 66% to $11.5 million, or 10 cents per share, up from $6.9 million, or 6 cents per share, during the same period a year earlier. Revenue increased to $303.6 million from $167.7 million. The company forecast that sales during the first quarter should be between $305 million and $310 million.

This is the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for Friday February 8, 2013. Please join us on Monday for the 'Week Ahead Market Report.