US markets closed higher as crude oil rallies

20 Oct 2016 Evaluate

The US markets closed higher for a second session on Wednesday, boosted by a rally in the energy sector and stronger-than-expected quarterly results. The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, an anecdotal economic survey, also indicated that the US economy continues its modest, albeit steady, expansion. Still, the mood in the market is generally subdued due to worries over valuation as stocks are trading near levels that had triggered strong sales in the past. The coming election is also keeping some investors from actively participating in the market. The Federal Reserve’s so-called Beige Book, a collection of anecdotes about the economy gathered before the central bank makes interest-rate decisions, stated that the US economy in most of the country grew at a modest to moderate rate. The area covered by the New York Fed saw no growth, elsewhere the outlooks were mostly positive. The Beige Book based on information collected on or before October 7, fits with a raft of so-called hard data showing the US economy expanding at a steady but unspectacular rate. The Fed’s survey reported the strong dollar weighing on exports, an uptick in retail spending, improved demand for services, a growing real-estate market, and stability in the hard-hit oil and natural-gas sector. Wage growth was reported to be fairly steady, but some companies in a number of sectors - including manufacturing, hospitality, health care, truck transportation and sales - reported difficulty hiring. Again, that fits with other economic data, showing wage growth gradually increasing at the same time that job openings are near record levels. There were 8 mentions of the word election, invariably used to describe the postponement of economic activity. That said, the overall pace of growth being called modest to moderate is what’s the central bank has been saying for years now.

On the economy front, builders broke ground on the fewest new homes in a year and a half in September, another setback as the housing market struggles for sustainable momentum. Housing starts ran at an annual 1.047 million pace. That was 9% lower than in August and 11.9% lower than a year ago. It was the slowest pace of starts since March 2015. The stumble in starts was slightly offset by a surge in building permits, which foreshadows a stronger pace of construction in the future. Permits were at a 1.23 million pace in August, a 6.3% monthly gain and the highest since November. And single-family housing starts jumped 8.1% to an annual 783,000 pace, the highest in seven months.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 40.68 points or 0.22 percent to 18,202.62, Nasdaq gained 2.57 points or 0.05 percent to 5,246.41, while S&P 500 was up 4.69 points or 0.22 percent to 2,144.29.

The Indian ADRs closed mixed; Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.27%, Tata Motors was up 0.26% and Wipro was up 0.07%. On the other hand, HDFC Bank was down 0.13% and ICICI Bank was up 0.13%.

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