Weekly Market Wrap: March 7, 2014
Friday, March 7, 4:47 PM ET

Launch related slideshow:
This Week's Top Ranked Dividend Stocks »

Hi. I'm Sayoko Murase. Welcome to the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for March 7, 2014.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 are all higher for the week.

Crude oil futures are relatively flat this week, trading just above $102.40 per barrel on Friday afternoon.

And Gold futures are up this week, trading around $1,338 an ounce in Friday afternoon trading.

In economic news, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 175,000 in February, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 6.7 percent. Employment increased in professional and business services and in wholesale trade but declined in information. The ADP National Employment Report showed private sector employment increased by 139,000 jobs from January to February. The US Department of Labor showed in the week ending March 1, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 323,000, a decrease of 26,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 349,000. And nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased at a 1.8 percent annual rate during the fourth quarter of 2013.

In corporate news, several companies increased their dividends this week. General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) declared a quarterly dividend of 62 cents per share, representing a 10.7 percent increase from the previous quarterly dividend of 56 cents per share.

Taubman Centers (TCO) declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.54 per share of common stock, an increase of 8 percent.

Hill-Rom Holdings (HRC) increased the company's fiscal year 2014 second quarter dividend 11 percent to $0.1525 per share.

This is the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for Friday, March 7, 2014. Please join us on Monday for the Week Ahead Market Report.

For MarketNewsVideo.com, I'm Sayoko Murase.