Weekly Market Wrap: April 25, 2014
Friday, April 25, 4:47 PM ET

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Names such as Facebook (FB), Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI), Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) and Zynga (ZNGA) are leading the way lower this afternoon.

Hi. I'm Kristin Bianco. Welcome to the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for April 25, 2014.

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

Crude oil futures are sharply lower this week, trading at $100.66 per barrel on Friday afternoon.

And Gold futures are higher, trading at $1301.04 an ounce on Friday afternoon.

In economic news, existing-home sales were essentially flat in March, while the growth in home prices moderated, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales gains in the Northeast and Midwest were offset by declines in the West and South.

Sales of new single-family houses in March 2014 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 14.5 percent below the revised February rate of 449,000 and is 13.3 percent below the March 2013 estimate of 443,000. The median sales price of new houses sold in March 2014 was $290,000; the average sales price was $334,200. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of March was 193,000. This represents a supply of 6.0 months at the current sales rate.

In the week ending April 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 329,000, an increase of 24,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 304,000 to 305,000. The 4-week moving average was 316,750, an increase of 4,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 312,000.

In highlights of corporate dividend news, Apple approved an increase to the company's quarterly dividend of approximately 8 percent and has declared a dividend of $3.29 per common share, payable on May 15, 2014 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 12, 2014. The Company also plans to increase its dividend on an annual basis.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) announced that its Board of Directors has declared a 6.1% increase in the quarterly dividend rate, from $0.66 per share to $0.70 per share. The next quarterly dividend is payable on June 10, 2014 to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 27, 2014. The ex-dividend date is May 22, 2014.

Pfizer declared a 26-cent second-quarter 2014 dividend on the company's common stock, payable June 3, 2014, to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 9, 2014.

Citigroup declared a quarterly dividend on Citigroup's common stock of $0.01 per share, payable on May 23, 2014 to stockholders of record on May 5, 2014.

Visa (NYSE:V) announced that its board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.40 per share of class A common stock payable on June 3, 2014, to all holders of record of the Company's class A, B and C common stock as of May 16, 2014.

MetLife (NYSE:MET) increased their second quarter 2014 dividend by 27 Percent. The company declared a second quarter 2014 common stock dividend of $0.35 per share, an increase from the prior quarterly common stock dividend of $0.275 per share. The dividend will be payable on June 13, 2014 to shareholders of record as of May 9, 2014.

And, Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) declared a quarterly common stock dividend of $1.30 per share. This is an increase of $0.05 from the previous quarter, and a year-over-year increase of 13%. The dividend will be payable on May 30, 2014 to stockholders of record on May 16, 2014.

This is the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for Friday, April 25, 2014. Please join us on Monday for the Week Ahead Market Report.

For MarketNewsVideo.com, I'm Kristin Bianco.