US market closed marginally in red as consumer spending stalls

31 Jan 2012 Evaluate

The US markets closed lower on Monday, as leaders in Europe gather to discuss the debt crisis for the seventeenth time in two years and tensions remained high with Portugal’s soaring borrowing costs. On domestic front, consumer spending stalled in December as Americans took advantage of a jump in incomes to restore depleted savings, indicating households remain focused on repairing finances. The Commerce Department reported that US consumer spending came to a virtual standstill in December after climbing 0.1% the month before. Retail sales, an earlier gauge of demand, showed spending lost momentum each month in the fourth quarter. Sales slowed from a 0.7 percent gain in October to a 0.1 percent increase in December.

In Europe, a surge in borrowing costs for Portugal raised fears that the country would have to follow Greece in writing down the value of its debts. Besides, Greek leaders appeared to be deadlocked in negotiations with international lenders to restructure debt losses of at least 50% and Greek finance minister rejected the calls to monitor future budgets by the European commissioner. Greece is likely to settle its differences with lenders probably as early as this week as the European Union summit began in Brussels.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower by 6.74 points, or 0.05 percent, at 12,653.70. The S&P 500 was down by 3.32 points, or 0.25 percent, at 1,313.01, while the Nasdaq closed down 4.61 points, or 0.16 percent, at 2,811.94.

Indian ADRs closed in red on Monday, HDFC Bank was down by 0.68%, ICICI Bank was down by 0.66%, Sterlite Industries was down 0.44%, Tata Communications was down by 0.31% and Tata Motors was down 0.30%.

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