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

Hi. I'm Sayoko Murase. Welcome to the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for March 28, 2014.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 are both moderately lower for the week, with the NASDAQ the biggest loser, down about 3%.

Crude oil futures are higher this week, trading at $101.53 per barrel on Friday afternoon.

And Gold futures are significantly lower this week, trading at $1294.20 an ounce on Friday afternoon.

In economic news, for the week ending March 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 311,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 321,000. The 4-week moving average was 317,750, a decrease of 9,500 from the previous week's revised average of 327,250.

Real gross domestic product - the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States - increased at an annual rate of 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to the "third" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 4.1 percent.

And, Sales of new single-family houses in February 2014 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 440,000, according to estimates released jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 3.3 percent below the revised January rate of 455,000 and is 1.1 percent below the February 2013 estimate of 445,000. The median sales price of new houses sold in February 2014 was $261,800; the average sales price was $317,500. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of February was 189,000. This represents a supply of 5.2 months at the current sales rate.

In corporate dividend news this week, The NASDAQ OMX Group (NDAQ) has declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share on the company's outstanding common stock, an increase of 15% from the prior $0.13 per share quarterly dividend. The dividend is payable on June 27, 2014, to shareowners of record at the close of business on June 13, 2014.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX) declared a cash dividend of $0.3125 per share payable on May 1, 2014 to holders of record as of April 15, 2014 for its common stock.

American Express (AXP) declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.23 per common share, payable on May 9, 2014 to shareholders of record on April 4, 2014.

And, Lowe's Companies (NYSE:LOW) has declared a quarterly cash dividend of eighteen cents ($0.18) per share, payable May 7, 2014, to shareholders of record as of April 23, 2014.

This is the 'Weekly Market Wrap' for Friday, March 28, 2014. Please join us on Monday for the Week Ahead Market Report.

For MarketNewsVideo.com, I'm Sayoko Murase.