US markets closed mostly lower on Thursday

17 Mar 2017 Evaluate

The US markets closed mostly lower on Thursday, giving back some of the previous day’s Federal Reserve-inspired gains as a fall for health-care and utilities stocks pushed the market into negative territory. Trading sentiment in Europe and the US was also buoyed by the preliminary result of the Dutch election. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen stated that she sees a gradual increase in interest rates this year and pointed out that the economy is getting closer to the Federal Reserve’s objectives. The progress of the economy was the basis for the decision to increase rates by 0.25% to a 0.75-1% range but pointed out that three interest rates hikes in 2017 qualifies as gradual. Yellen reiterated that the US central bank would continue to provide accommodative monetary policy to support the US economy but warned against a prolonged period of lower rates in order to avoid a situation which forces the fed to raise rates rapidly.

On the economy front, the number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits fell by 2,000 to 241,000 in mid-March, as layoffs remained near the lowest level in decades. Two weeks ago, new claims had fallen to the lowest level since early 1973. And they’ve come under the key 300,000 threshold for 106 straight weeks, the second-longest streak since the mid-1960s. The four-week average of initial claims, meanwhile, rose by a scant 750 to 237,250. Continuing jobless claims declined by 30,000 to 2.03 million in the week ended March 5.

Separately, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s monthly index on regional manufacturers fell to 32.8 in March from 43.3 in February, which was the highest reading in 33 years. Gauges of new orders and current shipments and employment all improved or were steady in the month. Price pressures picked up in March. The prices-paid index moved 11 points higher to 40.7, its highest reading since May 2011. More than 40% of the firms reported increases in prices paid and no firms reported paying lower prices. The gauge of future activity increased to 59.5 in March, its highest reading since August 2014.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 15.55 points or 0.07 percent to 20,934.55, S&P 500 dropped 3.88 points or 0.16 percent to 2,381.38, while the Nasdaq was up 0.71 points or 0.01 percent to 5,900.76.

The Indian ADRs closed mostly in green; Tata Motors was up 1.82%, HDFC Bank was up 0.94% and ICICI Bank was up 0.41%. On the other hand, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 1.38% and Wipro was down 0.09%.

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