U.S. stock market indexes closed in the green on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 22,370.80. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 2.78 points to 2,506.65 and the Nasdaq Composite index inched up 6.68 points to 6,461.32. The dollar index is down 0.2% at 91.84, while the U.S. 10-year bond yields 2.247% and the German 10-year bond yields 0.456%.
Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT, Financial) board of directors announced Tuesday it is increasing the quarterly dividend to 42 cents per share, an increase of three cents or 7.6% from the previous quarter. The dividend is payable Dec. 14 to shareholders of record on Nov. 16. The ex-dividend date is Nov. 15. The annual dividend is now $1.68 and yields 2.22%.
Moreover, the company announced the appointment of Hugh Johnston, vice chairman and chief financial officer of PepsiCo (PEP, Financial), to its board of directors and to the board's audit committee. John W. Thompson, independent board chairman, said, "He is a great addition to Microsoft's board of directors, and we look forward to working with him."
The technology company's shares gained 0.37% today and are up 0.20% in after-hours trading.
In other news, Ford Motor Co. (F, Financial) announced it will trim production at five North American assembly plants, including three in the U.S., for 10 weeks in order to reduce inventories of less popular models. The company's sales were down 4% in August compared to the comparable quarter of 2016. Ford, however, is not the only automaker affected by the slowdown as total industry sales were down about 3%.
Last Friday, the stock achieved its fourth consecutive week of gains. After gaining 0.77% on Tuesday, the stock fell 0.51% in after-hours trading.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
