Weekly Market Wrap: July 3, 2014
Thursday, July 3, 4:44 PM ET

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

Most actively traded stocks include Bank of America, up 1.14%, Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY) up 0.97%, Rite Aid (RAD) up 5.58%, and Facebook (FB) lower by 0.24%.

Hi. I'm Sayoko Murase. Welcome to the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for July 3, 2014.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite are all significantly higher this week.

Crude oil futures are lower this week, trading at $104.04 per barrel on Thursday afternoon.

And Gold futures are higher for the week, trading at $1319.02 an ounce.

In economic news, the U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced that construction spending during May 2014 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $956.1 billion, 0.1 percent above the revised April estimate of $955.1 billion. The May figure is 6.6 percent above the May 2013 estimate of $896.6 billion.

During the first 5 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $358.1 billion, 8.2 percent above the $331.1 billion for the same period in 2013.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 288,000 in June, and the unemployment rate declined to 6.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Job gains were widespread, led by employment growth in professional and business services, retail trade, food services and drinking places, and health care.

In June, the unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 6.1 percent. The number of unemployed persons decreased by 325,000 to 9.5 million. Over the year, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons have declined by 1.4 percentage points and 2.3 million, respectively.

In highlights of corporate dividend news, the board of directors of The PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE:PNC) declared a quarterly cash dividend on the common stock of 48 cents per share. The dividend is payable on Aug. 5, 2014 to shareholders of record at the close of business July 15, 2014.

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 July 16, 2014, to unitholders of record as of the close of business on July 11, 2014.

Duke Energy declared a quarterly cash dividend on its common stock of $0.795 per share, an increase of $0.015 per share or about 2 percent. The dividend is payable on Sept. 16, 2014, to shareholders of record at the close of business Aug. 15, 2014.

And, Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) declared a quarterly dividend of 13 cents per share. The dividend is payable on August 1, 2014 to shareholders of record on July 18, 2014.

This is the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for Thursday, July 3, 2014. Please join us on Monday for the Week Ahead Market Report.

For MarketNewsVideo.com, I'm Sayoko Murase.