US markets closed higher ahead of Fed meeting

17 Mar 2015 Evaluate

The US markets closed higher on Monday, posting solid gains as investors cheered a pause in the dollar rally and eyed renewed weakness in oil prices ahead of Wednesday's key Fed meeting. On the economy front, industrial output was sluggish in February, raising questions about whether the economy has hit another soft patch. Factory output struggled to rise a slim 0.1% even with a record jump in utility output. Adding to the sense of weakness, output in January was revised sharply lower, to a drop of 0.3% from the prior estimate of a 0.2% rise. Factory activity alone fell in February for the third straight month, the longest streak since near the end of the Great Recession in 2009. Capacity utilization slipped to 78.9% in February from a revised 79.1% in January. A gauge of confidence among home builders fell in March for third month in a row and touched the lowest level since last summer, a signal that low mortgage rates and faster job growth still haven’t translated into a much stronger housing market. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing-market index dropped 2 points to 53 in March.

Meanwhile, the Empire State manufacturing index moved slightly lower in March, falling to 6.9 from 7.8 in February. Any reading above zero indicates improving conditions. Manufacturers surveyed by the New York Fed reported roughly the same modest improvement in place since October. New orders fell into negative territory in March, suggesting a decline in orders, and shipments were also weaker. On the other hand, the employment index showed a solid gain. The six-month outlook improved only slightly to 30.7 in March after plunging to a two-year low of 26 in the prior month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 228.11 points or 1.29 percent to 17,977.42, Nasdaq was up by 57.75 points or 1.19 percent to 4,929.51 while, S&P 500 gained 27.79 points or 1.35 percent to 2,081.19.

The Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Monday; Infosys was up 0.91%, HDFC Bank was up 0.47% and Wipro was up 0.31%. On the other hand, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 0.08% and ICICI Bank was down by 0.04%.

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