The US markets closed lower on Thursday, as investors remained reluctant to make big bets in a thinly-traded session ahead of long holiday weekend. Thursday’s moves follow the biggest one-day percentage drop for the S&P 500 since October 11. All three main indexes are on track to post solid monthly gains and double-digit annual returns with one trading session to go in 2016. On the economy front, the trade deficit increased 5.5% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual $65.3 billion. That was larger than the $62.5 billion gap forecast and the fourth-highest reading since 2008. Exports rose 1.0% to $121.7 billion, while imports totaled $187.0 billion, up 1.2% from October. The fresh trade data suggests real exports will likely be down 4.6% during the third quarter, and imports to have surged 6.8%, more than double an initial estimate of 3%.
On the other hand, the number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits for week running from December 18 to December 24 before Christmas fell by 10,000 to 265,000, returning initial claims to the extremely low levels that have been the norm since last summer. In mid-December, new claims had jumped to a six-month high of 275,000. Yet claims usually swing up and down in the period that stretches from Thanksgiving to early January, as many Americans move in and out of the workforce during the holiday shopping season. Initial claims have been under 300,000 for 95 straight weeks, the longest streak since 1970. The less volatile four-week average of initial claims, meanwhile, fell by 750 to 263,000. Continuing jobless claims rose by 63,000 to 2.1 million in the week ended December17.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 111.36 points or 0.56 percent to 19,833.68, Nasdaq slipped 48.88 points or 0.89 percent to 5,438.56 and S&P 500 was down by 18.96 points or 0.84 percent to 2,249.92.
The Indian ADRs closed mostly in green; Tata Motors was up 0.76%, HDFC Bank was up 0.21% and Wipro was up 0.07%. On the other hand, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 0.03% and ICICI Bank was down 0.02%.