US markets closed mostly higher; Nasdaq ends in red

29 Mar 2016 Evaluate

The US market closed mostly higher on Monday, with S&P 500 and Dow closing in green, on the back of consumer-discretionary and consumer-staples companies, but energy shares capped the market’s upside. A fresh drop in oil prices to below $40 a barrel weighed on the market. A lack of clarity from the Federal Reserve also dampened market sentiment as investors wrestle with conflicting comments. On the economy front, an early look at US trade patterns in February suggest a small increase in the nation’s trade deficit. The trade gaps in goods - services are excluded - rose 1% to a seasonally adjusted $62.9 billion. The government will release overall trade numbers for February next week, but the size of the trade deficit is generally tied to changes in the movement of goods such as cars, computers, refined oil, heavy machinery and aircraft. Trade patterns involving services rarely change much from month to month. For January, the government previously reported that the total U.S. trade deficit rose 2.2% to $45.7 billion. Separately, a gauge of pending home sales rose a solid 3.5% in February. The index from the National Association of Realtors rose to 109.1 from a downwardly-revised 105.4 in January. This is the highest level in seven months. Year-over year, pending home sales were up 0.7%. This was the 18th straight month in which the index has been higher compared with a year ago, but the February gain is the smallest of the streak.

On the other hand, consumers didn’t do a whole lot of spending in February and January wasn’t as good as initially reported, spurring Wall Street to cut forecasts for first-quarter US growth. Americans held the line last month on big-ticket items such as new cars and they pocketed a little more money. As a result, spending rose just 0.1% last month. Incomes rose 0.2% in February, though that’s the smallest increase since September. Incomes had jumped a much sharper 0.5% in January, boosted in part by the enactment of higher minimum wages in some states. Since households earned more than they spend, the personal savings rate rose a notch to 5.4% to match a one-year high. Inflation as measured by the PCE index slipped 0.1% last month, largely because of lower energy costs. The PCE index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation barometer, rose just 1% in the 12 months ended in February, down from 1.2%. The core PCE index that excludes food and energy rose 0.1% in February. The annual increase was unchanged at 1.7%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 19.66 points or 0.11 percent to 17,535.39, S&P 500 gained 1.11 points or 0.05 percent to 2,037.05 while, Nasdaq dropped 6.72 points or 0.14 percent to 4,766.79.

The Indian ADRs closed in red; Tata Motors was down by 0.28%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 0.24%, ICICI Bank was down by 0.22%, HDFC Bank was down 0.12% and Wipro was down 0.09%.

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