US markets closed lower; FOMC meeting eyed

16 Dec 2014 Evaluate

The US markets closed lower on Monday; dragging the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index further from the record it reached less than two weeks ago, as an unabated fall in oil prices continued to erode investor confidence. Plenty of data is on tap for this week, though the big event will be the Federal Open Market Committee meeting and news conference with Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen scheduled on Wednesday. Investors will be looking to see whether the Fed retains its considerable time policy-statement pledge. On the economy front, the Empire State manufacturing index, the first of the many regional manufacturing gauges to be released, fell to negative 3.6 in December from 10.2 in November. This is the first negative reading since January 2013 and came as a surprise. Readings during the fourth quarter showed a significant downshift in activity from levels seen in prior two quarters.

Besides, a gauge of confidence among home builders ticked down this month by one point to 57, staying close to the highest level in nine years. Readings above 50 signal that builders, generally, are optimistic about sales trends. December marks the sixth consecutive month of above-50 readings - a trend that is consistent with our assessment that we are in a slow march back to normal. Also, NAHB reported that its barometer of builders’ views on present sales of single-family homes declined one point to 61 in December, while a barometer of builders’ views on upcoming sales fell one point to 65. And a gauge of prospective-buyer traffic was unchanged at 45.

On the other hand, due to strong consumer goods and utilities output, industrial production in November rose by the largest percentage since May 2010. Industrial production rose more than forecast and data was also revised up for the past three months. Industrial production grew 1.3% in November. Capacity utilization rose in November to 80.1% from an upwardly revised 79.3% in October. This is the highest level since March 2008 and equal to its long-run average. This may be a sign that the ample slack that existed in the economy in the wake of the financial crisis has been taken away.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 99.99 points or 0.58 percent to 17,180.84, Nasdaq was down by 48.44 points or 1.04 percent to 4,605.16, while S&P 500 dropped by 12.70 points or 0.63 percent to 1,989.63.

Indian ADRs closed mostly in red on Monday; Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 1.73%, Tata Motors was down by 1.28%, HDFC Bank was down 0.66% and Infosys was down 0.39%. On the other hand, Wipro was up by 0.10%.

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