The US markets closed mostly higher on Monday, with the Nasdaq Composite notching modest gains and closing at a record for the third straight session. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out gains to barely close higher, as a modest rally fizzled out by the end of the session. St Louis Fed President James Bullard stated that there’s a more than 50-50 chance the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in September. Bullard added that the economy is much closer to normal today than it’s been in quite a while, certainly over the last five years. The main problem is we are in emergency settings for monetary policy. Bullard highlighted that while the Fed is trying to be data-dependent in deciding when to tighten, interest rates will probably rise if the economy stays on track for 3 percent growth in the second half. Bullard, who is scheduled to be a voting member of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee in 2016, had previously argued the Fed should start raising rates sooner rather than later and last year was favouring a first move earlier in 2015. Policy makers are edging toward raising rates for the first time since 2006 following solid gains in the labor market. Fed Chair Janet Yellen last week told lawmakers that waiting too long to raise borrowing costs holds risks for the US economy, along with tightening too quickly.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 13.96 points or 0.08 percent to 18,100.41, the Nasdaq was up 8.72 points or 0.17 percent to 5,218.86 while the S&P 500 gained by 1.64 points or 0.08 percent to 2,128.28.
The Indian ADRs markets ended mostly in red on Monday, Tata Motors was down by 0.60%, HDFC Bank was down 0.13%, ICICI Bank was down 0.12% and Infosys was down 0.07%. On the other hand, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.37%.