Stocks Ended Mostly Lower

U.S. stocks ended mostly lower on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 32.43 points, or
0.20%, to 16,550.97. The S&P 500 was down 2.58 points, or 0.14%, to 1,875.63. The Nasdaq Composite shed
16.18 points, or 0.40%, to 4,051.50.

There are two economic trends that Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen told Congress this week she finds “very disturbing.” Unfortunately, the Fed has very little power to fix either of them.

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Thursday proposed a rule to limit concentration in the financial sector, a
requirement of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act to make banks safer after the crisis. The rule would prohibit a
bank merger if the new company’s liabilities exceed 10 percent of the aggregate consolidated
liabilities of all financial companies, the central bank said in a press release.

Time Warner’s spin-off of its publishing unit Time Inc. will take effect on June 6, when shares in the
new company are distributed to investors. The spin-off details were disclosed in a filing with the
Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. Shareholders who owned Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500)
as of May 23 will receive new shares in Time Inc., which will trade on the New York Stock Exchange
under the ticker symbol “TIME.”

CBS Corp. (CBS) reported late Thursday a first-quarter net profit of $468 million, or 78 cents a
diluted share, compared with $463 million, or 73 cents a diluted share, for the same prior-year period.
Revenues were $3.86 billion, compared with $4.04 billion in the first quarter of 2013 and expectations
of $3.92 billion.

Gap Inc. (GPS) on Thursday said its April same-store sales rose a better-than-expected 9%, driven by
gains across its namesake unit and at its Banana Republic and Old Navy-branded shops.