US markets closed lower on weak economic data

28 Feb 2015 Evaluate

The US markets closed lower on Friday, with the main indexes finished the week roughly where they started it, but still booked hefty monthly gains. On the economy front, consumers spent a bundle in fourth quarter, fresh government statistics confirm, but the US economy as a whole grew slower than initially reported owing to a smaller buildup in business inventories. Gross domestic product expanded by a 2.2% annual clip in the final three months of 2014, down from an initial read of 2.6%. That’s a sharp deceleration from a torrid 5% pace in the third quarter that marked the fastest US growth in 11 years. GDP is the value of all the goods and services the US produces and it’s the best reflection of the nation’s economic health. For all of 2014, the US grew at a 2.4% clip. The February reading of Chicago PMI tumbled to a five-and-a-half year low of 45.8. The reading, down from 59.4 in January and below the 50 mark measuring contraction, came after double-digit drops in production, new orders, order backlogs and employment.

Meanwhile, there was an upward bump in the final reading of the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment report for February, but the index still fell for the first time since July. The sentiment index was 95.4 in February -- up from a preliminary reading of 93.6 but down from January’s 98.1 showing. Sentiment has been boosted in recent months by the steep slide in gasoline prices and by the gains in employment.

On the other hand, pending home sales rose in January to the highest level since August 2013. The National Association of Realtors reported its pending home sales index rose 1.7% from an upwardly revised December level, and sales were up 8.4% from January 2014 levels. The NAR forecasts a 6.4% gain in existing home sales this year and a nearly 5% rise in median prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 81.72 points or 0.45 percent to 18,132.70, Nasdaq was down 24.36 points or 0.49 percent to 4,963.53 while, S&P 500 dropped 6.24 points or 0.30 percent to 2,104.50.

The Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Friday; HDFC Bank was up by 0.83%, Tata Motors was up 0.57% and ICICI Bank was up 0.53%. On the other hand, Wipro was down 0.11% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down by 0.02%.

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