US markets close higher as oil prices rebound

15 Jan 2016 Evaluate

The US markets closed higher on Thursday, as a rebound in oil prices allowed the main indexes to claw back much of the steep fall seen in the previous session. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard stated that the US central bank’s median forecast for four quarter-point rate hikes in 2016 still seems appropriate despite new signs that inflation will remain low for longer. Bullard stated that the unrelenting decline in crude-oil prices suggest it will take longer than expected for headline inflation to return to the US central bank’s 2% annual target. Bullard was also concerned that inflation expectations were dropping. Bullard, a voting member on the Fed’s 2016 policy committee, was a big proponent of the Fed’s December rate hike, so Fed watchers immediately saw his remarks as a sign of weakening resolve about a steady path of rate hikes at the US central bank.

On the economy front, the average number of people who applied for jobless benefits in the past month climbed in early 2016 to the highest level since last July. The four-week average of initial jobless claims rose by 3,000 to 278,750 in the seven days from January 3 to January 9, marking the highest level in six months. The monthly average bottomed out at a 42-year low of 259,250 in late October. Initial jobless claims for the first full week of January, meanwhile, rose by 7,000 to a seasonally adjusted 284,000. Additionally, some 2.26 million people collected weekly unemployment checks in the seven days ended January 2. These so-called continuing claims were 29,000 higher compared with the prior week.

Meanwhile, the prices the US paid for imported goods fell 1.2% in December, capping a year of steep declines owing largely to slumping oil prices. Import prices have tumbled for six straight months and dropped 8.2% for all of 2015. The full-year drop is the biggest decline since 2008, during the middle of the Great Recession. Even if oil prices are set aside, import prices have been falling. The cost of all imports excluded fuel slid 3.4% in 2015, marking the only decline since the government began keeping track in 2001.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 227.64 points or 1.41 percent to 16,379.05, the Nasdaq was up 88.93 points or 1.96 percent to 4,615.00 while, the S&P 500 gained 31.56 points or 1.67 percent to 1,921.84.

The Indian ADRs closed mixed; Infosys was up by 1.39%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.61% and Wipro was up 0.28%. On the other hand, HDFC Bank was down 0.87% and Tata Motors was down 0.56%.

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