The US markets closed lower on Thursday, with Dow once again slipping below the 18000 mark, after showing a lack of direction earlier in the session on getting some disappointing earnings. The decline was mainly because of profit taking with all the major averages trading at their multi-month highs. Traders even overlooked latest US economic news, including a report from the Labor Department showing that initial jobless claims fell to their lowest level in over forty years in the week ended April 16th. The Labor Department said jobless claims edged down to 247,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 253,000. The average of new claims over the past month fell 4,500 to a seasonally adjusted 260,500, close to post recession lows. The low level of claims is also a sign the U.S. economy was still adding jobs in April at a healthy clip.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve released a separate report showing an unexpected contraction in regional manufacturing activity in April. The Philly Fed said its diffusion index for current activity fell to a negative 1.6 in April from a positive 12.4 in March. A negative reading indicates a contraction in regional manufacturing activity. Also, the Conference Board released a report showing a smaller than expected increase by its index of leading U.S. economic indicators in March. The Conference Board said its leading economic index rose by 0.2 percent in March after edging down by a revised 0.1 percent in February.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 113.75 points or 0.63 percent to 17,982.52, the S&P 500 was down by 10.92 points or 0.52 percent to 2,091.48 while, the Nasdaq edged lower by 2.24 points or 0.05 percent to 4,945.89.
The Indian ADRs made a mixed closing on Thursday, HDFC Bank was down by 0.74%, Infy was down by 0.40% and Wipro was down by 0.60%.
On the other hand Tata Motors was was up by 0.09%, and ICICI Bank was up by 0.49%.
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