The US markets closed higher on Thursday, finishing at records high after the European Central Bank (ECB) unveiled a raft of stimulus measures. The ECB announced a negative rate on reserves that banks park at the central bank, in a widely expected move, but it also revealed several other measures aimed at boosting inflation and encouraging lending in the euro zone. In US economic news, a report on weekly jobless claims roughly matched forecasts. The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits last week edged higher but remained near a post-recession low, reflecting the small amount of layoffs occurring in the US economy. Initial jobless claims rose by 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 312,000 in the seven days ended May 31. Weekly claims are 10% lower compared to one year ago and they are down 17% from the same week in 2012. The average of new claims over the past four weeks dropped by 2,250 to 310,250, marking the lowest level since June 2007.
Meanwhile, thanks to rising house prices and a growing stock market, US households and nonprofits added $1.5 trillion in net worth in the first quarter. The gain in net worth to $81.76 trillion was driven by a $758 billion increase in the value of residential real estate and a $361 billion rise in corporate equities. Debt outside the financial sector rose at a seasonally adjusted rate of 5% in the first quarter, a slight deceleration from 5.2% in the fourth quarter of 2013.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 98.58 points or 0.59 percent, to 16,836.11, the Nasdaq Composite added 44.59 points or 1.05 percent, to 4,296.23 and the S&P 500 gained 12.58 points or 0.65 percent, to close at 1,940.46.
The Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Thursday; Tata Motors was up 1.40%, Infosys was up 0.33% and ICICI Bank was up by 0.32%. On the other hand, HDFC Bank was down 0.23% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down by 0.08%.