Stocks Rise in Second Quarter, Drop in June

U.S. stocks rose during the second quarter, but ended June with losses as investors started to come to terms with the potential slowdown in the Federal Reserve’s monetary stimulus. On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 114.89 points or 0.76 percent, to end at 14,909.60. The S&P 500 slipped 6.92 points or 0.43 percent, to finish at 1,606.28. The Nasdaq Composite added 1.39 points or 0.04 percent, to close at 3,403.25. For the second quarter, the Dow rose 2.3%, the S&P 500 gained 2.4% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 4.2%.

September could be an opportune time for the Federal Reserve to consider scaling back its assets purchase, an influential official of the U.S. central bank said on Friday, as he stressed that the Fed must take a long view of economic progress and not be blinded by the most recent data.

Prices for benchmark U.S. Treasurys slipped in choppy trading on Friday, ending a quarter in which yields shot to near two-year highs as investors, worried that the Fed could slow its massive bond-buying program, dumped government debt.

Barclays Plc’s (LSS:UK:BARC) (NYSE:BCS) investment bank will move 4,000 jobs out of high-cost locations by 2015 but didn’t disclose where the jobs would move to, according to an investor presentation posted to its website.