US markets closed mostly lower; retail sales disappoint

14 May 2015 Evaluate

The US market closed mostly lower on Wednesday, as early gains faded by the end of the session. The S&P 500 and Dow declined for the third consecutive day, following disappointing monthly retail sales figures. Sales at US retailers were flat in April as Americans continued to be thrifty shoppers, a trend that’s intensified since the end of last summer despite cheaper gas. American spent more at restaurants and Internet sites, but they cut back on purchases of autos, home furnishings, electronic goods and fuel. Sales minus autos rose 0.1%, but that fell well short of the 0.4% forecast. Retail purchases have been slowing since August, when the annualized pace of sales briefly hit 5% for the first time since mid-2013.

Separately, the prices the US paid for imported goods fell 0.3% in April, as the lower cost of goods such as food and industrial supplies offset a rise in petroleum. Excluding fuel, import prices fell by 0.4% last month. The price of US-made goods exported to other nations dropped 0.7% in April. For the past 12 months import prices have declined by 10.7%, mostly because of a steep drop in oil in the second half of 2014. Inventories at US businesses rose 0.1% in March, compared with 0.2% growth in the prior month. Meanwhile, business sales rose 0.4% in March, compared with a drop of 0.2% in the prior month. The inventory-to-sales ratio, an indication of demand, ticked down to 1.36 in March from 1.37 in February.

Meanwhile, Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned that markets will get another taper tantrum when the Fed raises interest rates for the first time in about nine years. He added that interest rates normalization is great, but the process of getting there is going to be very rocky. Greenspan enlightened that generally the economy had improved somewhat but we are still below normal. Gross domestic product grew about 0.2 percent in the first quarter, an estimate that is likely to turn negative by the time revisions are completed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 7.74 points or 0.04 percent to 18,060.49, S&P 500 was lower by 0.64 points or 0.03 percent to 2,098.48 while, Nasdaq was up by 5.50 points or 0.11 percent to 4,981.69.

The Indian ADRs closed in green on Wednesday; HDFC Bank was up 0.62%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up by 0.47%, Tata Motors was up by 0.29%, ICICI Bank was up by 0.13% and Wipro was up 0.12%.

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