The US markets closed mostly lower on Thursday, while the Nasdaq Composite rebounded to close at an all-time high, but losses in financials dragged the S&P 500 lower. Mixed data on jobs also raised concerns a day before the closely watched December employment report due Friday. On the economy front, the number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits after Christmas fell by 28,000 to the second-lowest level of the Obama era, hugging close to a 43-year low. Initial claims sank to 235,000 from a revised 263,000. New claims averaged 262,000 a week in the final year of the Obama presidency, the lowest average since 1973. And initial claims have been under 300,000 for 96 straight weeks, the longest stretch since 1970. The Labor Department said that the less volatile four-week average of initial claims declined by 5,750 to 256,750. Continuing jobless claims rose 16,000 to 2.11 million in the week ended December 24. On the other hand, the Institute for Supply Management said its services index stayed at 57.2% in December, matching a 12-month high. Any reading above 50% indicates improving activity. The new-orders component of the ISM report improved to 61.6% from 57% in November. However, the employment index decreased 4.4 percentage points in December to 53.8% from the November reading of 58.2%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 42.87 points or 0.21 percent to 19,899.29, S&P 500 was down by 1.75 points or 0.08 percent to 2,269.00, while Nasdaq gained 10.93 points or 0.20 percent to 5,487.94.
The Indian ADRs closed mostly in green; HDFC Bank was up 1.71%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.76%, Tata Motors was up 0.65% and ICICI Bank was up0.21%. On the other hand, Infosys was down 0.11%.
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