US markets climbs on encouraging jobless claims and manufacturing data

16 Mar 2012 Evaluate

The US markets climbed higher on Thursday, lifting the S&P 500 index past 1,400 for the first time since June 2008, as reports on jobless claims and manufacturing bolstered optimism in the economy. The number of people who filed applications for US unemployment benefits fell by 14,000 last week and matched a four-year low. Initial claims dropped to a seasonally adjusted 351,000 from 365,000. Claims from the prior week were revised up from 362,000. Also, two measure of manufacturing in the Northeast showed improvement, consistent with improving conditions at US factories.  The New York Federal Reserve reported that manufacturing in its region hit at a 21-month high in March. The Empire State manufacturing index rose to 20.2 in March its highest level since June 2010. This is the fourth straight increase after the index had been stuck near zero from June through November. Besides, Freddie Mac’s chief economist stated that rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages this week averaged 3.92%. Before the recession, mortgage rates were over 6%.

In Europe, the euro area member states formally approved the second adjustment program for Greece, according to a statement from the president of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker. The International Monetary Fund is set to approve €28 billion, its share of the €130 billion second bailout package for Greece today. However, Fitch Ratings downgraded the UK's credit rating outlook to negative from stable, indicating a slightly greater than 50% chance of a downgrade over a two-year horizon. But the agency affirmed the UK’s long-term foreign currency issuer default rating at AAA. Also, the number of persons employed decreased 0.2% in the euro area and 0.1% in the EU27 in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared with the previous quarter.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 58.66 points, or 0.44 percent, at 13,252.80. The S&P 500 gain 8.32 points, or 0.60 percent, at 1,402.60, while the Nasdaq was up by 15.64 points, or 0.51 percent, at 3,056.37.

Indian ADRs closed mixed on Thursday, HDFC Bank was down 0.42%, Tata Communications was down 0.26% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 0.11%. On the flip side, Infosys Technologies was up 0.35% and Tata Motors was up 0.21%.

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