The US markets closed lower on Wednesday, led by healthcare and materials stocks, while oil prices tumbled on worries about oversupply. Oil prices tumbled, with US crude oil futures settling lower after an unexpected large build up in US crude oil stockpiles renewed worries about oversupply. Investors have mostly held off on big bets on Wall Street ahead of comments from Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen at the central bank’s retreat at Jackson Hole. Yellen’s speech there will be closely watched for hints about US monetary policy and the path of interest rates. Earlier, a reading of existing home sales didn’t do much to inspire buying, with stocks continuing to trade in a tight range on seasonally light summer volume. Sales of previously owned homes fell in July as tight inventory continued to weigh on the market and prices pushed higher. Existing-home sales declined 3.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.39 million. That was 1.6% lower than year ago. The July figures were lower than the 5.48 million pace forecast. Inventory was 5.8% lower than a year ago, the 14th month in a row of declines from year-earlier comparables. There were 4.7 months’ worth of homes available at the current sales pace. The median home price rose to $244,100. That’s 5.3% higher than a year ago, a faster pace of growth than wages and also much stronger than rental costs. It also keeps a lid on the entry of first-time buyers into the market. First-timers accounted for 32% of all transactions in July, down a tick from 33% in June but still above the 29% threshold it had been stuck at for some time.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 65.82 points or 0.35 percent to 18,481.48, Nasdaq was down 42.38 points or 0.81 percent to 5,217.70, while S&P 500 dropped 11.46 points or 0.52 percent to 2,175.44.
The Indian ADRs closed mostly in red; Tata Motors was down 0.59%, Infosys was down 0.15%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 0.15% and Wipro was down 0.15%. On the other hand, HDFC Bank was up 0.68%.