The US markets closed higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising for a third straight session to close above the psychologically important 18,000 for the first time in over a month, as oil rallied to an 11-month high. Hints from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen this week that the next interest-rate hike might be pushed back are also bolstered sentiment. Investors mostly shrugged off the news that companies had a record number of open jobs in April. The number of job openings in the US unexpectedly rose in April, remaining in territory consistent with an improving labor market as employers actively seek workers. The US Labor Department stated that the number of job openings, excluding the farming industry, increased to 5.780 million in April from 5.670 million a month earlier, which was revised from the original reading of 5.757 million.
Meanwhile, US consumer borrowing slowed in April, as Americans became more cautious about running up credit-card debt. Outstanding consumer credit, a measure of non-mortgage debt, rose by a seasonally adjusted $13.42 billion in April from the prior month. The 4.49% seasonally adjusted annual growth rate is a slowdown from March’s downwardly revised 9.57% pace. Revolving credit outstanding, mostly credit cards, rose at a 2.08% annual pace in April, the slowest pace since January. That is a steep drop-off from a downwardly revised rate of 13.34% in March, its fastest pace since February 2001.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 66.77 points or 0.37 percent to 18,005.05, Nasdaq gained 12.89 points or 0.26 percent to 4,974.64 while, S&P 500 added 6.99 points or 0.33 percent to 2,119.12.
The Indian ADRs closed mixed; Tata Motors was up 0.35%, ICICI Bank was up 0.13% and Wipro was up 0.02%. On the other hand, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 0.44% and HDFC Bank was down 0.33%.