US markets closed mostly lower after a volatile session

14 Aug 2015 Evaluate

The US markets closed mostly lower on Thursday, following a choppy session marked by narrow gains and losses, as readings on retail sales and jobless claims suggested the US economy is on healthy footing. Sales at US retail stores rose 0.6% in July and were revised higher for June and May, suggesting the economy is on firm footing. In July, sales minus autos rose 0.4%. Sales minus gasoline were up 0.6%. In June, sales were revised up to unchanged from a decline of 0.3%. May sales were revised to show a gain of 1.9% instead of a 1.0% gain. New applications for US unemployment benefits rose by 5,000 to 274,000 in the seven days ended August 8, in a report suggesting continued improvement in the labor market. The average of new claims over the past month, meanwhile, edged down by 1,750 to a seasonally adjusted 266,250, its lowest level since April 2000. The four-week average smooths out sharp fluctuations in the more volatile weekly report and is seen as a more accurate predictor of labor-market trends. The continuing jobless claims increased by 15,000 to 2.27 million in the week ended August 1. These claims reflect people already receiving unemployment checks.

Meanwhile, the prices the US paid for imported goods fell 0.9% in July, the biggest drop in six months. The price drop was led by a drop in fuel prices. However, excluding fuel, import prices declined by 0.3%. The price of US-made goods exported to other nations also fell 0.2% in July. In the past 12 months import prices have dropped 10.4%, mostly because of a lower oil costs. Import prices are down a smaller 2.6% excluding fuel in the same span. Lower import prices have helped keep a tight lid on US inflation, but that also reflects a tepid global economy. Separately, inventories at US businesses rose 0.8% in June, the largest gain since January 2013. The gain was higher than the 0.3% gain expected. Business sales were up 0.2% in June. The inventory-to-sales ratio, an indication of demand, rose to 1.37 in June from 1.36 in May. One new piece of information was retail inventories, which rose 0.9% in June compared with a 0.1% drop in sales. Excluding autos, retail inventories rose 0.7%. The inventory-to-sales ratio in retail remained unchanged at 1.27.

The Nasdaq lost 10.83 points or 0.21 percent to 5,033.56, the S&P 500 was down by 2.66 points or 0.13 percent to 2,083.39 while, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 5.74 points or 0.03 percent to 17,408.25.

The Indian ADRs ended mostly in red on Thursday, Tata Motors was down by 0.63%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 0.45%, HDFC Bank was down by 0.20% and Wipro was down 0.16%. On the other hand, Infosys was up 0.18%.

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