The US markets slipped on Friday, as renewed tensions between Russia and Ukraine created uncertainty for markets and also on a batch of disappointing results. The session’s broad-based selling wiped out what had been weekly gains for the main indexes. On the economic front, consumers are the perkiest they’ve been in nine months, holding brighter views on current and coming economic conditions. The University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters’s gauge of consumer sentiment hit a final April reading of 84.1 - the highest reading since July - up from a final March level of 80. For context, over the year leading up to the start of the recession, which began in December 2007, sentiment averaged 86.9. April’s reading pushes the sentiment gauge closer to prerecession levels.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by 140.19 points or 0.85 percent, to 16,361.46, the Nasdaq Composite dropped by 72.78 points or 1.75 percent, to 4,075.56, while the S&P 500 lost 15.21 points or 0.81 percent, to close at 1,863.40.
The Indian ADRs closed mostly in red on Friday; ICICI Bank was down 0.98%, Tata Motors was down 0.51%, HDFC Bank was down 0.13% and Wipro was down by 0.10%. On the other hand, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.53%.