The thirty third trading week of 2014 comes to a close after a volatile day of trading in the US. In the last hour of trading, the S&P 500 and Dow are lower while the NASDAQ is slightly higher.
Most actively traded stocks include J.C. Penney (JCP) down 2.82%, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) down 0.85%, Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI) up 0.15% and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) higher by 0.15%.
Hi. I'm Sayoko Murase. Welcome to the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for August 15, 2014.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are all higher for the week.
Crude oil futures are lower this week, trading at $97.30 per barrel on Friday afternoon.
And Gold futures are also lower for the week, trading at $1304.55 an ounce.
In economic news, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for July, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $439.8 billion, virtually unchanged from the previous month, and 3.7 percent above July 2013. Total sales for the May through July 2014 period were up 4.2 percent from the same period a year ago. The May to June 2014 percent change was unrevised from +0.2 percent.
Retail trade sales were virtually unchanged from June 2014, and 3.4 percent above last year. Health and personal care stores were up 7.3 percent from July 2013 and auto and other motor vehicle dealers were up 6.4 percent from last year.
In the week ending August 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 311,000, an increase of 21,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 289,000 to 290,000. The 4-week moving average was 295,750, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 293,500 to 293,750.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending August 2, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 2 was 2,544,000, an increase of 25,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up 1,000 from 2,518,000 to 2,519,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,528,250, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 2,519,000 to 2,519,250.
The Producer Price Index for final demand rose 0.1 percent in July, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. This increase followed a 0.4-percent advance in June and a 0.2-percent decline in May. On an unadjusted basis, the index for final demand climbed 1.7 percent for the 12 months ended in July. In July, the 0.1-percent increase in final demand prices can be traced to the index for final demand services, which also rose 0.1 percent. Prices for final demand goods were unchanged. Within intermediate demand, prices for processed goods advanced 0.1 percent, the index for unprocessed goods dropped 2.7 percent, and prices for services moved up 0.3 percent.
3M (NYSE:MMM) declared a dividend on the company's common stock of 85.5 cents per share for the third quarter of 2014, payable Sept. 12, 2014, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Aug. 22, 2014.
NIKE (NYSE:NKE) has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.24 per share on the company's outstanding Class A and Class B Common Stock payable on October 6, 2014, to shareholders of record at the close of business on September 2, 2014.
Equifax (NYSE:EFX) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, payable on September 15, 2014, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 22, 2014.
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) authorized payment of a quarterly shareholder dividend of $0.375 per share in the third quarter of 2014. The dividend will be paid on September 23, 2014, to all shareholders of record of UnitedHealth Group common stock as of the close of business September 12, 2014.
Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) announced the declaration of a quarterly dividend of $0.53 per share of Common Stock, payable on September 18, 2014, to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 26, 2014.
This is the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for Friday, August 15, 2014. Please join us on Monday for the Week Ahead Market Report.
For MarketNewsVideo.com, I'm Sayoko Murase.
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