The US markets closed lower on Monday, and suffered their worst drop in a month as investors got first chance to react to the March nonfarm-payrolls report which showed companies adding fewer jobs than expected. The economy in March added the fewest number of jobs in five months, breaking a string of strong employment gains and raising questions about the strength of the US recovery. The Labor Department on last Friday stated that US employers added 120,000 jobs last month, with the number below 200,000 for the first time since November. The March report also contained other signs of weakness. While the unemployment rate fell to 8.2%, the lowest level since January 2009, the decline stemmed entirely from people dropping out of the labor force, first time in 2012.
Besides, the chairman of the Federal Reserve convened a meet on Monday night for better regulation of the so-called shadow banking industry, which he says poses risks to the financial system as a whole. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told at an Atlanta Fed conference on financial policy that regulation of financial-services firms isn’t yet up to the same standards of monetary policy. In prepared comments, Bernanke limited himself to regulation and didn’t touch on the economy or interest-rate policy. Bernanke stated that the shadow banking industry is closely connected to traditional banks - and therefore, corrections, panics and other stresses can spill over.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower by 130.55 points, or 1.00 percent, at 12,929.60. The S&P 500 lost 15.88 points, or 1.14 percent, at 1,382.20, while the Nasdaq was down by 33.42 points, or 1.08 percent, at 3,047.08.
Indian ADRs closed mostly in red on Monday, Tata Motors was down 0.67%, ICICI Bank was down 0.66%, Infosys Technologies was down 0.62% and HDFC Bank was down 0.61%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.49%.
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