The US markets ended the Monday’s choppy session lower, in the wake of disappointing trade data from China and Greek debt drama. Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras dismissed the country’s European Union and International Monetary Fund bailouts and added that he wouldn’t ask EU leaders for any extension. On the domestic economy front, improvement in the jobs market continued but at a slower pace in January. The Fed’s labor market conditions index, which weighs 19 different economic indicators, fell to 4.9 in January from an upwardly revised 7.3 in December. This is the lowest reading since September. In a separate reading, the Conference Board stated that its employment trend index rose to 127.9 in January, up from 127.2 in December, a 7.6% gain from the same month one year ago. This signals strong job growth is likely to continue through the first half of the year.
Meanwhile, the outgoing leader of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Charles Plosser doesn’t expect the US to be hit by price deflation, and argued again that the US central bank needs to consider interest rate increases soon. Plosser stated that weakening price pressures as measured by headline inflation gauges largely reflect the huge drop in oil prices, and aren’t a sign of broader economic problems. Plosser added that US central bank is currently caught between the cross currents of decent growth, strong job gains and inflation readings that are falling ever farther short of its 2% price target.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by 95.08 points or 0.53 percent to 17,729.21, the Nasdaq lost 18.39 points or 0.39 percent to 4,726.01 and the S&P 500 was lower by 8.73 points or 0.42 percent to 2,046.74.
The Indian ADRs ended mixed on Monday, HDFC Bank was down by 0.63%, Tata Motors was down by 0.23% and ICICI Bank was down by 0.12%. On the other hand, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up by 0.59% and Infosys was up 0.43%.