US markets slip on mixed economic reports

08 Feb 2013 Evaluate

The US markets slipped on Thursday, as investors took a step back and digested mixed economic news and a slew of earnings reports and waited for fresh reasons to buy after a healthy start to the year. Charles Evans, the president of the Chicago Fed Bank stated that, the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying program is an energy bar to get the economy off a fast run. Comparing the economy to a half-marathon, Evans stated that $85 billion per month of asset purchases is needed to get the run started. Evans stated he is optimistic that momentum will pick up this year. He forecast growth at a 2.5% rate this year. But voiced concerns that the unemployment rate would still be close to 7% by the end of 2014. Besides, the early reports showed US retailers turning in strong sales for January, a time of heavy promotions to clear holiday goods and make way for early spring merchandise. January is the end of the fiscal year for most retailers and the month is important because it serves as a good barometer of how much consumers have left over after holiday spending and also gives inklings of what type of buying may lie ahead. January sales were helped by a number of measures including the averted fiscal cliff, growth in jobs and greater wealth from home prices and the rising stock market.

On the economy front, US businesses did not produce goods and services all that efficiently at the tail end of 2012; workers put in more time but companies barely increased output, according to preliminary government figures. The productivity dropped at a 2.0% annual rate in the October-to-December period, That’s the steepest decline in almost two years. Separately, the number of Americans losing their jobs every week has hardly changed over the past six months. Initial jobless claims fell by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 366,000 in the week ended February 2, the Labor Department stated.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 42.47 points or 0.30 percent to 13,944.00, the Nasdaq lost 3.34 points or 0.11 percent to 3,165.13 and the S&P 500 was down by 2.73 points or 0.18 percent to 1,509.39.

Indian ADRs closed in red on Thursday, ICICI Bank was down 1.03%, Infosys was down by 0.69%, HDFC Bank was down by 0.48%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 0.35% and Sterlite Industries was down 0.25%.

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