The US markets closed higher on Friday, after a sharp sell-off on Thursday, finishing the volatile week with modest gains. Investors focused on earnings reports from companies such as Google Inc and Huntington Bancshares and brushed aside implications of a Malaysia Airlines jet crash in Ukraine and Israel’s invasion of Gaza, which triggered a selloff on Thursday. On the economy front, signaling that the economy could strengthen in the second half of the year, the leading economic index for the US rose 0.3% in June to 102.2. Broad-based increases in the leading index over the last six months signal an economy that is expanding in the near term and may even somewhat accelerate in the second half. The coincident index, which measures current conditions, rose 0.2% in June, while the lagging index grew 0.5%. From May, the LEI’s growth was revised from 0.5% to 0.7%.
However, consumers lost some perkiness in July, as a sentiment gauge hit a four-month low because of weakening expectations for economic conditions. The gauge from the University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters fell to a preliminary July reading of 81.3 - the lowest since March - from a final June level of 82.5. The gauge had averaged 86.9 over the year leading up to the recession sparked by the financial crisis.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 123.37 points or 0.73 percent to 17,100.18, Nasdaq gained 68.70 points or 1.57 percent to 4,432.15, while the S&P 500 was up by 20.10 points or 1.03 percent at 1,978.22.
Indian ADRs closed in green on Friday; ICICI Bank was up by 1.79%, Infosys was up 1.02%, HDFC Bank was up 0.99%, Tata Motors was up 0.37% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.23%.
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