US markets slip as Fed signals end to bond buys

04 Jan 2013 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower on Thursday, after the Federal Reserve signaled a likely end in 2013 to its bond purchases, offsetting upbeat jobs data from the private sector a day before the Labor Department’s nonfarm-payrolls report for December. While policy makers agreed on measures to avert tax hikes for all but a small percent of wealthy Americans, automatic spending cuts were merely delayed by two months. And the issue of the debt ceiling is also yet to be resolved. There is a general sense among Federal Reserve officials that their bond-buying program would last, at most, until the end of the year, according to the minutes from their meeting last month that were released. Several Fed officials thought that the central bank would be able to slow or stop the purchases well before December 2013. The Fed officials were evenly divided between those who thought it would be appropriate for the Fed to stop its asset purchases sometime in the middle of the year and those who judged it would be likely to continue beyond that date. Besides, Moody’s Investors Service stated that the budget accord will not reduce the nation’s red ink enough to avert a sovereign-rating downgrade.

On the economy front, retailers started the New Year on a cautionary note as chains from Family Dollar Stores Inc. and Target Corporation to Kohl’s Corporation and Limited Brands Inc. missed expectations for the critical December holiday sales. Also, new applications for US unemployment benefits jumped to a five-week high, partly reflecting the typical volatility seen during the holidays because of seasonal hiring patterns and the closure of government offices. Initial jobless claims climbed by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 372,000 in the week ended December 29. On the other hand, private-sector job gains picked up speed in December, with the largest monthly increase since February to end the year on a solid footing, according to a report from payrolls processing firm Automatic Data Processing Inc. The US added 215,000 private-sector jobs in December, led by a gain of 187,000 service-providing jobs, while goods producers added 28,000 jobs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 21.19 points or 0.16 percent to 13,391.40, the Nasdaq dropped 11.70 points or 0.38 percent to 3,100.57 and the S&P 500 closed lower by 3.05 points or 0.21 percent to 1,459.37.

Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Thursday, Infosys was up 0.61%, Tata Communications was up 0.37% and Dr Reddy’s lab was up by 0.22%. On the other hand, ICICI Bank was down 0.55% and Tata Motors was down by 0.45%. 

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