US markets closed mostly higher on good economic data

25 Jan 2013 Evaluate

The US markets closed mostly higher on Thursday, with the Dow rising for a fifth consecutive day, helped by a round of economic data including jobless claims, while the world’s biggest company by market value Apple Inc.’s, worst day in four years took toll on Nasdaq Composite. Some confidence that US lawmakers would resolve a tangle of budget issues facing the nation helped the benchmark indexes bump closer to record highs touched five years ago, before the credit crisis and deep recession. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted to extend the US debt ceiling until May, giving more time to the White House and Congress to agree on a deal to reduce the deficit. Besides, the Federal Reserve pushed its balance sheet beyond $3 trillion for the first time this week while undertaking open-ended purchases of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities to combat 7.8% unemployment. The Fed’s total assets climbed by $48 billion in the past week and stood at $3.01 trillion as of January 23, according to a release from the central bank in Washington. The bond buying is part of Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s campaign to use the full force of the central bank’s balance sheet to stoke the economic recovery.

On the economy front, the likelihood of faster domestic economic growth is rising, the Conference Board stated as it reported that its leading economic index increased in December. The leading economic index rose 0.5% in December.  Besides, the number of people who applied for new US jobless benefits fell again last week and remained at a five-year low, though it’s unclear whether the decline reflects improved hiring or dwindling layoffs. Initial applications for US unemployment benefits fell by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 330,000 in the week ended January 19. Separately, the preliminary flash manufacturing purchasing managers index for the US rose to a 56.1 reading in January from 54.0 in December, according to a Markit report released. This is the strongest rate of growth since March 2011. Output, new orders and employment each accelerated and stayed above the 50 level indicating growth. The new orders index was at the highest level in 32 months.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 46.00 points or 0.33 percent to 13,825.30, the Nasdaq lost 23.29 points or 0.74 percent to 3,130.38 and the S&P 500 was almost flat by 0.01 points to 1,494.82.

Indian ADRs closed mixed on Thursday, Tata Motors was up 0.51%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.29% and HDFC Bank was up 0.27%. On the other hand, Infosys was down by 0.38% and Tata Communication was down 0.19%.

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