The thirty first trading week of 2014 comes to a close with US markets flat to lower in late afternoon trading.
Most actively traded stocks include Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) down 1.57%, Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI) down 1.5%, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) up 0.83%, and Facebook (FB) flat.
Hi. I'm Sayoko Murase. Welcome to the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for August 1, 2014.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are all sharply lower for the week.
Crude oil futures are significantly lower this week, trading at $97.77 per barrel on Friday afternoon.
And Gold futures are also lower for the week, trading at $1293.90 an ounce.
In economic news, in the week ending July 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 302,000, an increase of 23,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 5,000 from 284,000 to 279,000. The 4-week moving average was 297,250, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since April 15, 2006 when it was 296,000. The previous week's average was revised down by 1,250 from 302,000 to 300,750.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending July 19, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 19 was 2,539,000, an increase of 31,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up 8,000 from 2,500,000 to 2,508,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,535,250, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since October 13, 2007 when it was 2,527,500. The previous week's average was revised up by 2,000 from 2,542,250 to 2,544,250.
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 209,000 in July, and the unemployment rate
was little changed at 6.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Job gains occurred in professional and business services, manufacturing, retail trade, and construction.
Both the unemployment rate (6.2 percent) and the number of unemployed persons (9.7 million) changed little in July. Over the past 12 months, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons have declined by 1.1 percentage points and 1.7 million, respectively.
Personal income increased $56.7 billion, or 0.4 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) increased $51.5 billion, or 0.4 percent, in June, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $51.7 billion, or 0.4 percent. In May, personal income increased $57.4 billion, or 0.4 percent, DPI increased $55.0 billion, or 0.4 percent, and PCE increased $39.8 billion, or 0.3 percent, based on revised estimates.
In highlights of corporate dividend news, IBM (NYSE:IBM) declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $1.10 per common share, payable September 10, 2014 to stockholders of record August 8, 2014.
Exelon Corporation declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.31 per share on Exelon's common stock. The dividend is payable on Sept. 10, 2014, to shareholders of record of Exelon as of 5:00 p.m. New York Time on Aug. 15, 2014.
Wynn Resorts has approved a cash dividend for the quarter of $1.25 per common share. This dividend will be payable on August 26, 2014, to stockholders of record on August 12, 2014.
Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.58 per common share payable on August 22, 2014 to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 11, 2014.
Southwest Airlines' (NYSE:LUV) Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $.06 per share to Shareholders of record at the close of business on August 21, 2014 on all shares then issued and outstanding. The 152nd consecutive dividend will be paid on September 12, 2014.
Chevron (NYSE:CVX) declared a quarterly dividend of one dollar and seven cents per share, payable September 10, 2014, to holders of common stock as shown on the transfer records of the Corporation at the close of business on August 19, 2014.
And, Capital One Financial (NYSE:COF) announced a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share payable August 21, 2014 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on August 11, 2014.
This is the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for Friday, August 1, 2014. Please join us on Monday for the Week Ahead Market Report.
For MarketNewsVideo.com, I'm Sayoko Murase.