US markets slips after China posted slower-than- forecast economic growth

14 Apr 2012 Evaluate

The US markets suffered sharp decline on Friday, with the major indices recording their worst week this year, after China reported that its economy slowed more than anticipated and as American consumer confidence weakened. China’s first-quarter economic growth cooled to its slowest pace in 11 quarters amid weak export growth and sluggish construction activity, though market viewed the figures as pointing to a gradual slowing rather than a replay of downturn during the global crisis. China’s National Bureau of Statistics stated that nation’s annual rate of economic growth slowed in the first quarter to 8.1% from 8.9% during the prior three months. In US, consumer sentiment declined in early April on worries about current economic conditions, according to a gauge released by the University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters. The preliminary UMich reading for consumer sentiment in April declined to 75.7 from a final March level of 76.2.

A separate report, from the Labor Department said that consumer prices climbed 0.3% in March after a 0.4% rise the prior month. The cost of living rose again in March even as the price of gasoline leveled off, the US government reported. The consumer price index climbed 0.3% last month as the cost of most goods and services rose. The increase outstripped the rise in wages, so inflation-adjusted earnings for the average American worker fell 0.1% last month.

In Europe, Spain will remain a top concern for investors after a week that saw European markets battered by mounting worries over the country’s banking sector and fiscal outlook. Spain was firmly back in the spotlight, after news of a sharp rise in borrowing by the region’s banks from the European Central Bank triggered losses across the European market. The cost of insuring Spanish government debt against default using credit-default swaps, or CDS, rose to an all-time high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower by 136.99 points, or 1.05 percent, at 12,849.60. The S&P 500 lost 17.31 points, or 1.25 percent, at 1,370.26, while the Nasdaq was down by 44.22 points, or 1.45 percent, at 3,011.33.

Indian ADRs closed in red on Friday, Infosys Technologies was down 7.62%, ICICI Bank was down 1.50%, HDFC Bank was down 0.99%, Wipro was down 0.78% and Tata Motors was down 0.47%.

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