The twelfth full trading week of 2015 comes to a close with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ composite all higher in early afternoon trading on Friday.
Most actively traded stocks include Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) down 0.65%, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) down 0.76%, Ford Motor (NYSE:F) lower by 0.28%, Kraft Foods Group (KRFT) up 4.8% and BlackBerry (BBRY) up 1.95%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite are all significantly lower in the last five days of trading.
Crude oil futures are significantly higher this week, trading at $49.80 per barrel on Friday afternoon.
And Gold futures are higher this week, trading at $1200.17 an ounce this afternoon.
In economic news, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 0.2 percent in February on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Over the last 12 months, the all items index was unchanged before seasonal adjustment.
The seasonally adjusted increase in the all items index was broad-based, with increases in shelter, energy, and food indexes all contributing. The energy index rose after a long series of declines, increasing 1.0 percent as the gasoline index turned up after falling in recent months. The food index, unchanged last month, also rose in February, though major grocery store food group indexes were mixed.
The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent in February, the same increase as in January. In addition to shelter, the indexes for used cars and trucks, apparel, new vehicles, tobacco, and airline fares were among those that increased. The medical care index was unchanged, while the personal care index declined.
The all items index was unchanged over the past 12 months, after showing a 0.1-percent decline for the 12 months ending January. Over the last 12 months the food index rose 3.0 percent and the index for all items less food and energy increased 1.7 percent. These increases were offset by an 18.8-percent decline in the energy index.
In the week ending March 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 282,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 291,000. The 4-week moving average was 297,000, a decrease of 7,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 304,750.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent for the week ending March 14, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 14 was 2,416,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level.
In corporate dividend news, UDR (NYSE:UDR) declared a regular quarterly dividend on its common stock for the first quarter of 2015 in the amount of $0.2775 per share, payable in cash, on April 30, 2015 to UDR common stock shareholders of record as of April 16, 2015.
Steelcase (NYSE:SCS) has declared a cash dividend of $0.1125 per share, to be paid on or before April 15, 2015 to shareholders of record as of April 6, 2015. This represents an increase of 0.75 cents per share compared to the third quarter.
NiSource (NYSE:NI) approved a quarterly dividend payment of 26 cents per share, payable May 20, 2015, to common stockholders of record at the close of business April 30, 2015.
American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.26 per common share, payable on May 8, 2015 to shareholders of record on April 2, 2015.
Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) announced that its quarterly dividend on the common stock, authorized by the Board of Directors at twenty-five cents a share on March 23, 2015, will be paid May 15, 2015, to stockholders of record at the close of business on April 20, 2015.
This is the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for Friday, March 27, 2015.
Please join us on Monday for the Week Ahead Market Report.
For MarketNewsVideo.com, I'm Sayoko Murase.
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