The forty-eighth trading week of 2014 has the S&P 500 and NASDAQ composite higher, and the Dow Jones flat in early-afternoon trading on Wednesday.
Most actively traded stocks include SeaDrill (NYSE:SDRL) down 22.36%, Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) up 1.7%, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) higher by 0.9%, and Facebook (FB) up 2.7%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite are all higher in the last five days of trading.
Crude oil futures are lower so far this week, trading at $73.75 per barrel on Wednesday afternoon.
And Gold futures are higher so far this week, trading at $1198.05 an ounce this afternoon.
In economic news, Real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 3.9 percent in the third quarter of 2014, according to the "second" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 4.6 percent.
The GDP estimate is based on more complete source data than were available for the "advance" estimate issued last month. In the advance estimate, the increase in real GDP was 3.5 percent. With the second estimate for the third quarter, private inventory investment decreased less than previously estimated, and both personal consumption expenditures and nonresidential fixed investment increased more. In contrast, exports increased less than previously estimated.
The increase in real GDP in the third quarter reflected positive contributions from PCE, nonresidential fixed investment, federal government spending, exports, residential fixed investment, and state and local government spending that were partly offset by a negative contribution from private inventory investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.
The deceleration in the percent change in real GDP reflected a downturn in private inventory investment and decelerations in exports, in nonresidential fixed investment, in state and local government spending, in PCE, and in residential fixed investment that were partly offset by a downturn in imports and an upturn in federal government spending.
In the week ending November 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 313,000, an increase of 21,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 291,000 to 292,000. The 4-week moving average was 294,000, an increase of 6,250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 287,500 to 287,750.
In corporate dividend news, BD (NYSE:BDX) has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.60 cents per common share, an increase of about 10.0 percent from the previous quarter. The dividend will be payable on December 31, 2014 to holders of record on December 10, 2014. The indicated annual dividend rate for fiscal year 2015 is $2.40 per share.
Aetna (NYSE:AET) declared an increased quarterly cash dividend of $0.25 per share on the company's common stock. The dividend was declared on November 21, 2014, and is payable on January 30, 2015, to shareholders of record at the close of business on January 15, 2015.
ACE Limited (NYSE:ACE) declared a quarterly dividend equal to $0.65 payable on January 5, 2015, to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 17, 2014, subject to a required filing with the Swiss Commercial Register. Dividend payments will be made in United States dollars by the company's transfer agent.
PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) declared a quarterly common stock dividend of $0.3725 per share, payable Jan. 2, 2015, to shareowners of record as of Dec. 10, 2014.
And, Valspar approved a 15 percent dividend increase, declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share on the company's common stock. The dividend is payable on December 19, 2014 to shareholders of record on December 8, 2014.
This is the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for Wednesday, November 26, 2014. There will be an abbreviated trading day on Friday.
Please join us on Monday for the Week Ahead Market Report.
For MarketNewsVideo.com, I'm Sayoko Murase.