US markets gain even as fiscal cliff worries lingers

07 Dec 2012 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Thursday, with an optimistic forecast from Broadcom Corporation bolstering technology shares and as investors weighed prospects for a budget deal in Washington. Broadcom’s, a chip manufacturer projected fourth-quarter revenue at the upper end of its target range. Besides, budget negotiations overshadowed market sentiment and 12 Republican lawmakers urged US House leader John Boehner to keep open mind on increasing taxes for highest income earners. On the economy front, the Labor Department reported jobless claims falling by 25,000 to 370,000 for the week ended December 01 to their lowest level in a month. New applications for US unemployment benefits fell for the third straight week, but haven’t fallen to quite the same level that prevailed before the super storm Sandy smashed into the Northeast in late October. Claims from two weeks ago were revised upward to 395,000 from an initial read of 393,000. The weekly data came ahead of Friday’s monthly nonfarm payrolls report, with the unemployment rate likely to hold at 7.9% for November.

In Europe, the ECB President Mario Draghi continues to see downside risks to the economic outlook for the euro area. The European Central Bank slashed its economic forecasts for 2013, offering little hope to the euro zone’s weaker members as they struggle to emerge from the region's debt crisis. The central bank took no new steps to spur business activity, instead putting the onus on governments to find ways to restore prosperity across the 17-member currency zone. Besides, the euro area economy slipped into recession in the third quarter. The gross domestic product contracted 0.1% in the third quarter from a quarter ago, when it dropped 0.2% matching the preliminary estimate released on November 15. The European Central Bank left its key interest rate unchanged at a record low of 0.75% for the fifth straight month in December. The deposit rate also remained unchanged at zero and the marginal lending facility rate was at 1.5%. Also, the Bank of England retained the size of quantitative easing at £375 billion and the key interest rate unchanged at 0.50%, as expected.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gain 39.55 points, or 0.30 percent, to close at 13,074.00, the S&P 500 added 4.66 points, or 0.33 percent, to finish at 1,413.94, while the Nasdaq rose 15.57 points, or 0.52 percent, to end at 2,989.27.

Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Thursday, Tata Motors was up by 0.71%, ICICI Bank was up by 0.69%, HDFC Bank was up by 0.42% and Sterlite Industries was up 0.23%.  On the other hand, Infosys was down 0.51%.

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