It was a fairly quiet week for most of the market. Stocks traded in a narrow range, as earnings and economic data neither excited investors or sent them running. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.10%) was down just 0.08% for the week, and the S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.03%) was up 0.12%. But there were three big movers on the Dow.
Alcoa (AA) led the Dow by gaining 4.3% this week. The company jumped when Citic Group, a Chinese state-owned investor group, said it would invest $468 million in Alumina Ltd., whose main asset is World Alumina & Chemicals, a venture with Alcoa. The investment will be used to pay down debt and may allow the company to reinstate its suspended dividend.
General Electric (GE 0.06%) was up 3.5%, mostly gained when it was announced that Comcast is buying the remaining stake of NBCUniversal earlier than expected. GE will walk away with $16.7 billion for selling the 49% of the media company it still owned and plans to focus its future on more industrial investment. This was part of a broad plan to rid GE of businesses that didn't fit well together, and this will allow GE to return $18 billion to investors this year.
Bank of America (BAC 1.79%) rounds out the list of big winners after gaining 2.3% for the week. The company jumped on Tuesday after Barclays announced a 1 billion pound loss and 3,700 job cuts over the next three years. The banking business is getting leaner, and that should mean more profits all around. A smaller Barclays investment banking unit, where most of the cuts will be made, also means more potential business for Bank of America going forward.
