US market drops as Spain and Portugal worries resurface

05 Apr 2012 Evaluate

The US markets slid for the second day on Wednesday, as weaker demand at a Spanish debt auction and the US Federal Reserve’s reluctance to add more monetary stimulus fueled concern that global economic recovery will slow. The losses intensified after the Institute for Supply Management’s services-sector index for March declined to 56% from 57.3% in February. The US service sector expanded at a somewhat slower pace in March, but growth was widespread, according to a survey. The gauges for new orders and production fell, accounting for most of the decline. However, American companies grew payrolls in March, illustrating ongoing strengthening in the labor market two days ahead of the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report. Figures from ADP had payrolls up by 209,000 in March after a revised 230,000 gain in February. The labor market is improving at a moderate pace, with private payrolls in March notching more than two years of gains, according to a monthly report released by payrolls-processor Automatic Data Processing Inc.

The European market sentiment worsened after Spanish bond yield rose and Portugal faced more scepticism and the prospect of Greece style restructuring. Spain’s five-year yields climbed 19 basis points to 4.45%, their loftiest level since January. Spain sold 2.59 billion euros of bonds due between January 2015 and October 2020, versus an intended maximum of €3.5 billion. The European Central Bank officials meeting in Frankfurt kept the benchmark interest rate at a record low of 1 percent, as predicted. ECB President Mario Draghi stated that while a moderate economic recovery is expected this year, the outlook is subject to downside risks as the debt crisis damps momentum. Draghi also stated that any talk of an exit strategy from stimulus measures is premature for now. Besides, Euro-zone private sector contracted in March, a revised report from Markit Economics showed. Separately, euro-zone retail sales fell 0.1% from a month ago in February, following a 1.1% rise in January, data from Eurostat showed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower by 124.80 points, or 0.95 percent, at 13,074.80. The S&P 500 lost 14.42 points, or 1.02 percent, at 1,398.96, while the Nasdaq was down by 45.48 points, or 1.46 percent, at 3,068.09.

Indian ADRs mostly closed in red on Wednesday, ICICI Bank was down 0.96%, HDFC Bank was down 0.78%, Infosys Technologies was down 0.63% and Tata Motors was down 0.41%. On the flip side, MTNL was up 0.03%.

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