Weekly Market Wrap: April 11, 2014
Friday, April 11, 4:45 PM ET

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The fifteenth trading week of 2014 comes to a close with US Markets sharply lower in late afternoon trading. Big names such as JP Morgan Chase, General Motors, J.C. Penney and Advanced Micro Devices are taking a hit.

Hi. I'm Sayoko Murase. Welcome to the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for April 11, 2014.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and the NASDAQ are all significantly lower for the week.

Crude oil futures are higher this week, trading at $103.71 per barrel on Friday afternoon.

And Gold futures are also higher this week, trading at $1319 an ounce on Friday afternoon.

In economic news, in February, consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6-1/2 percent. Revolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 3-1/2 percent, while nonrevolving credit increased at an annual rate of 10 percent.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced that February 2014 sales of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers' sales branches and offices, after adjustment for seasonal variations and trading-day differences but not for price changes, were $436.1 billion, up 0.7 percent from the revised January level and were up 3.1 percent from the February 2013 level. The January preliminary estimate was revised downward $0.1 billion. February sales of durable goods were up 0.1 percent from last month and were up 2.9 percent from a year ago. Sales of nondurable goods were up 1.2 percent from January and were up 3.3 percent from last February. Sales of petroleum and petroleum products were up 4.0 percent from last month and sales of beer, wine, and distilled alcoholic beverages were up 1.9 percent.

Total inventories of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers' sales branches and offices, after adjustment for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were $518.3 billion at the end of February, up 0.5 percent from the revised January level and were up 4.7 percent from the February 2013 level. The January preliminary estimate was revised upward $0.3 billion or 0.1 percent.

In corporate dividend news, Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY) declared a dividend of $0.22 per share on the Common Stock of the company, payable in cash on May 30, 2014 to holders of record of such common shares at the close of business on May 9, 2014.

Ford Motor Company declared a second quarter dividend of $0.125 per share on the company's outstanding Class B and common stock. This is the same level of dividend paid in the first quarter of 2014, which is a 25 percent increase from the level of dividend paid in each quarter of 2013. The second quarter dividend is payable on June 2, 2014 to shareholders of record on May 2, 2014.

And, Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.04 per share for both Class A and Class B common stock payable on May 7, 2014 to holders of record at the close of business on April 23, 2014.

This is the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for Friday, April 11, 2014. Please join us on Monday for the Week Ahead Market Report.

For MarketNewsVideo.com, I'm Sayoko Murase.