The US markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday, on opening after a historic two-day market closure as Hurricane Sandy had prompted shutdown of the New York Stock Exchange, with New York City and the East Coast hit hard by the storm on Monday evening. The markets were under pressure and posted their first monthly loss since May, with Walt Disney Co.’s pressuring blue-chips for the session and Facebook Inc. shares weighing down the Nasdaq Composite index. However, the data showed that the Chicago PMI business barometer edged up in October to 49.9% from 49.7% in the prior month, but remained below the key 50% mark for the second straight month. Readings below 50% indicate contraction. Investors have started eyeing some key releases this week which include jobless claims and the ADP national employment report on Thursday, as well as the Labor Department’s October jobs data Friday.
In Europe, Euro zone finance ministers are to hold a conference call and the focus is on Greece. The leaders will have to make a decision on disbursing the next tranche of the €31.5 billion bailout money for Greece. The euro area unemployment rate increased to a record 11.6% in September from a revised 11.5% in August, Eurostat stated. The EU27 jobless rate remained stable at 10.6%. The lowest unemployment rate of 4.4% was recorded in Austria and Spain reported the highest rate of 25.8% followed by Greece with 25.1%. Separately, euro zone inflation eased to 2.5% in October from 2.6%in September, according to a flash estimate released from Eurostat.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 10.75 points, or 0.08 percent, to close at 13,096.50, the S&P 500 finished up by 0.22 points, or 0.02 percent at 1,412.16, while the Nasdaq ended lower by 10.72 points, or 0.36 percent to settle at 2,977.23.
Indian ADRs closed mixed on Wednesday, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up by 1.25%, Infosys was up by 0.75% and HDFC Bank was up 0.44%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank was down 0.43% and Tata Communications was down by 0.38%.
MoneyWorks4Me is a SEBI-registered Investment Adviser (IA) dedicated to helping investors build long-term wealth through transparent, research-driven, conflict-free guidance. Founded in 2008, we started our journey as a Research Analyst (RA), providing deep fundamental analysis, intrinsic value insights, and long-term investing frameworks for Indian equities. In 2017, we transitioned to a full-fledged SEBI-registered Investment Adviser, strengthening our commitment to acting as a fiduciary—always putting the investor’s interest first.
To become India’s most trusted, research-powered fiduciary advisory platform—where every investor, regardless of experience, can make calm, confident, and well-reasoned investment decisions.
MoneyWorks4Me ensures this through: