US markets gain on hopes from fiscal-cliff talks

11 Dec 2012 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Monday, lifting the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 to their highest levels since President Election Day, as Wall Street banked on a deal to avert automatic tax hikes and spending cuts slated to start in January. President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met at the White House to talk about how to avert the billions in tax hikes and spending cuts set to start in the New Year. Both sides however declined to offer any details about the discussion, but issued duplicate statements, saying that lines of communication remain open. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that US economy would drop into a recession in the first half of the new year if a deal is not reached. Investors are now eyeing Fed meeting ending on Wednesday and expect central bank to continue its program to buy Treasury bonds and mortgage bonds. Fed is expected to keep its program to buy $40 billion of mortgage-backed securities and $45 billion of Treasury securities a month.

In Europe, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said that he would step down after next year’s budget is approved. Italy is scheduled for new elections in February and Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani is likely to lead the next government. Bersani stated that he will continue the policies put in place by Prime Minister Monti. On the economy front, Italian economy contracted for the fifth quarter in a row and industrial production fell 1.1% in October. German export rose less than imports and trade surplus fell to the lowest level in six months. On the other hand, euro zone investor confidence improved in December, data released by the think-tank Sentix showed. The Sentix Index rose to -16.8 in December from -18.8 in November. This is its fourth increase in a row.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 14.75 points or 0.11 percent, to close at 13,169.88, the S&P 500 added 0.48 points or 0.03 percent, to finish at 1,418.55, while the Nasdaq rose by 8.92 points or 0.30 percent, to end at 2,986.96.

Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Monday, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.91%, Infosys was up 0.29% and Wipro was up 0.21%. On the other hand, Tata Motors was down by 0.27% and HDFC Bank was down 0.08%.

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