The US markets made a mixed closing on Wednesday, despite trading strong throughout the day. Traders took some profit into the close of trading before going for Thanksgiving holiday that led the S&P end tad lower for the day. On the economic front there were mostly positive news, which confirmed the hopes being priced in for weeks - the Federal Reserve is likely to raise interest rates in December. The Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims fell by more than expected in the week ended November 21st.The jobless claims fell to 260,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level of 272,000. A separate report from the Commerce Department showed that new orders for manufactured durable goods increased by much more than expected in the month of October. Durable goods orders surged up by 3.0 percent in October after falling by a revised 0.8 percent in September.
The Commerce Department in its other report showed that new home sales rebounded strongly in October after pulling back sharply in the previous month. The new home sales jumped 10.7 percent to an annual rate of 495,000 in October after slumping 12.9 percent to a revised 447,000 in September. However, the University of Michigan also released a report showing that consumer sentiment in November improved by less than previously estimated.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up by 1.20 points or 0.01 percent to 17,813.39, Nasdaq climbed 13.33 points or 0.26 percent to 5,116.14, while the S&P 500 ended down by 0.27 points or 0.01percent to 2,088.87.
The Indian ADRs closed in red on Thursday, HDFC Bank was down by 0.78%, ICICI Bank was down by 0.12%, Tata Motors was down by 0.10%, Wipro was down by 0.48% and Infy was down by 0.07%.