Afternoon Market Update

The board of Leggett & Platt Incorporated LEG announced that it is raising its quarterly dividend by 3.8% to $0.27 per share in Q3. The dividend is scheduled to be paid on October 15 to the shareholders on record as of September 15. As per the government, the Treasury Department has decided for an auction of notes and bonds worth $74 billion in the next week in its quarterly refunding auctions. Treasury has reduced the size of the 3-year note offering by $1 billion, as compared to the previous auction. However, it will auction the same amount of the 10-year and 30-year notes. Crude oil futures remained lower after a government report showed higher-than-expected decline in oil inventories. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has reported a draw of 2.8 million barrels for the week ended July 30, which is higher than the expected decline of about 1.2 million barrels. Crude for September delivery moved down 0.6% to $82.03 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). Read more from Benzinga's Markets.