The US market edged higher on Thursday, as investors weighed better-than-expected economic data against concerns about corporate earnings. The first-time claims for US unemployment benefits declined in the week ended October 20th, according to a report released by the US Labor Department. The seasonally adjusted weekly jobless claims dropped 23,000 to 369,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 392,000. The 4-week moving average was 368,000, an increase of 1,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 366,500. Also, US durable goods orders rebounded in September. New orders for manufactured durable goods increased 9.9% or $19.6 billion to $218.2 billion in September, followed a 13.1% drop in August. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 2% and excluding defense, new orders increased 9.1% in September. Besides, a third report had pending-home sales rising 0.3% in September, stabilizing following a sharp decline the prior month.
In Europe, investors have also been encouraged by signs of progress where they expect officials to push ahead with plans to give Greece more time to meet its budget goals. Also, investors are hoping that more central bank action may follow after the latest economic weakness and better than expected earnings results from corporations. Besides, UK pulled out of double-dip recession in the quarter to September on higher spending linked to Olympics and Paralympics events. The economy expanded at 1% in the quarter from the previous quarter when poor weather conditions and extra holidays linked to Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations dampened the economic activities. Separately, the IMF approved another €1.5 billion disbursement for Portugal and Sweden’s central bank decided to hold the benchmark repo rate at 1.25%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 26.34 points, or 0.20 percent, to close at 13,103.70, the S&P 500 finished up by 4.22 points, or 0.30 percent at 1,412.97, while the Nasdaq ended higher by 4.42 points, or 0.15 percent to settle at 2,986.12.
Indian ADRs closed mixed on Thursday, HDFC Bank was up 0.58%, ICICI Bank was up 0.54% and Infosys was up by 0.47%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down by 0.29% and Wipro was down by 0.02%.
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