US markets end flat ahead of Fed’s monetary-policy decision

13 Mar 2012 Evaluate

The US markets made a mixed closing on Monday weighed by the report that Chinese exports grew at a slower pace than forecast, fueling concern about the global economy and ahead of a monetary-policy decision from the Federal Reserve along with a rush of economic releases this week. China reported the largest trade deficit in more than two decades, causing investors to reconsider global growth prospects and demand for commodities. Meanwhile, the Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to release its statement on Tuesday afternoon, with investors looking for any hint of a change in the central bank’s monetary policy. The market had begun to doubt whether the Fed would do anything else after Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony to Congress in early March, where he seemed to downplay more quantitative easing and stressed some positive developments in the labor markets. Investors may be disappointed by how US banks perform in Federal Reserve stress tests as examiners expect consumer-loan losses to surpass the industry’s estimates if there’s another severe recession. The Fed is also expected to release the results of bank stress tests by Thursday. The Federal Reserve is expected to allow a number of the big US banks to hike dividends to as much as 26% of earnings as part of the latest round of stress test results. The Tuesday’s session will also brings the scheduled release of retail-sales data for February. Regional manufacturing indexes, industrial production for February and consumer sentiment for March will follow later in the week.

In Europe, investors are focused on the euro area finance ministers’ meeting in Brussels that is set to approve the second bailout package for Greece. Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings downgraded Greece to restricted default. Besides, Italy is in recession, final data confirmed on Monday, underscoring the difficulties facing Mario Monti's technocrat government as it grapples with a shrinking economy dragged down by austerity measures and a debt crisis. Italy's economy shrank 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, following a 0.2 percent decline in gross domestic product in the third quarter.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 37.69 points, or 0.29 percent, at 12,959.70. The S&P 500 gained 0.22 points, or 0.02 percent, at 1,371.09, while the Nasdaq was down by 4.68 points, or 0.16 percent, at 2,983.66.

Indian ADRs closed in red on Monday, Infosys Technologies was down 0.61%, HDFC Bank was down 0.40%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 0.23%, Tata Motors was down 0.22% and Sterlite Industries was down by 0.17%.

© 2026 The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. MoneyWorks4Me ® is a registered trademark of The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd.

×