The fourteenth trading week of 2014 comes to a close with US Markets lower in early afternoon trading. Big names such as Amazon.com, Google, and Tesla are contributing to the Nasdaq's now 2.25% drop on the day.
Hi. I'm Kristin Bianco. Welcome to the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for April 4, 2014.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 are holding on to moderate gains for the week, with the NASDAQ now lower by about 1.2% for the week.
Crude oil futures are slighly lower this week, trading at $101.37 per barrel on Friday afternoon.
And Gold futures are slightly higher this week, trading at $1303.19 an ounce on Friday afternoon.
In economic news, total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 192,000 in March, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment grew in professional and business services, in health care, and in mining and logging.
Private nonfarm business sector multifactor productivity increased at a 1.5 percent annual rate in 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. This gain in 2012 reflected a 3.8-percent increase in output and 2.2-percent increase in the combined inputs of capital and labor. Capital services grew by 1.4 percent, and labor input ñ which is the combined effect of hours worked and labor composition ñ grew 2.7 percent, the largest gain since 1997. Capital services per hour of all persons decreased at a rate of 0.8 percent in 2012 after falling 1.1 percent in 2011. The decreases in 2011 and 2012 are the only two years of decline in the measure which began in 1987.
In corporate dividend news this week, The TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX) has raised the amount of its quarterly dividend by 21% from the last dividend paid. The Board declared a regular quarterly dividend in the amount of $.175 per share, payable June 5, 2014, to shareholders of record on May 15, 2014.
The PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE:PNC) declared a quarterly cash dividend on the common stock of 48 cents per share, an increase of 4 cents per share, or 9 percent, from the first quarter dividend of 44 cents per share. The dividend is payable on May 5, 2014 to shareholders of record at the close of business April 15, 2014.
Ingersoll-Rand (NYSE:IR) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 cents per ordinary share, payable June 30, 2014, to shareholders of record on June 13, 2014.
LINN Energy (LINE) and LinnCo (LNCO) announced monthly distributions and dividends. LINN Energy declared a monthly cash distribution of $0.2416 per unit, or $2.90 per unit on an annualized basis, for all of its outstanding units. The distribution will be payable April 16, 2014, to unitholders of record as of the close of business on April 11, 2014.
And, LinnCo declared a monthly cash dividend of $0.2416 per common share, or $2.90 per share on an annualized basis, for all of its outstanding common shares. The dividend will be payable April 17, 2014, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 11, 2014.
This is the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for Friday, April 4, 2014. Please join us on Monday for the Week Ahead Market Report.
For MarketNewsVideo.com, I'm Kristin Bianco.
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