US markets rose on improving view about global economy

11 Jan 2013 Evaluate

The US markets rose on Thursday, lifting the S&P 500 to a five-year closing high, after data from China bolstered the view of improving global economy. The December exports data from China beat expectations, while European Central Bank President Mario Draghi projected that the euro zone’s economy would bounce back later this year. Besides, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard predicted optimistic outlook for US economic growth at 3.2% in 2013 and 2014. Bullard, a voting member this year on the Fed’s monetary policy panel, stated that he expects unemployment to drop over the next two years, while inflation should remain near the Fed’s 2% target rate. Also, the Federal Reserve’s Minneapolis chief stated that US monetary policy is now too tight. Narayana Kocherlakota is doubling down on the Federal Reserve’s policy of low interest rates intended to stimulate the American economy. The President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis predicted that US unemployment won’t fall below 7% before late 2014, and inflation will stay below 2%.

Besides, US banks and other financial companies have drawn support this week as the government’s consumer finance watchdog unveiled mortgage rules that will make banks use new standards to determine if a borrower has the ability to repay a mortgage. And several large home-loan providers, earlier in the week, came to an accord with regulators to close a review of foreclosures ordered by the government. On the economy front, new applications for jobless benefits rose slightly in the first week of 2013, but the level of claims stood little changed over the past few months and is consistent with a modestly improving US labor market. Initial jobless claims climbed by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 371,000 in the week ended January 05, the highest level in one month, the Labor Department stated. Separately, inventories at US wholesalers rose 0.6% in November to a seasonally adjusted $498.9 billion, the Commerce Department stated. Sales for wholesalers jumped 2.3% to $419.3 billion. The ratio of inventories relative to sales was unchanged at 1.19. The number measures how many months it would take for a company to sell off its current inventory.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 80.71 points or 0.60 percent to 13,471.20, the Nasdaq jumped 15.95 points or 0.51 percent to 3,121.76 and the S&P 500 closed higher by 11.10 points or 0.76 percent to 1,472.12.

Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Thursday, Infosys was up 1.27%, Tata Motors was up 0.20% and Wipro was up 0.09%. On the other hand, MTNL was down by 0.91% and ICICI Bank was down 0.05%. 

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