US markets closed flat despite better-than-expected jobs data

15 Feb 2013 Evaluate

The US markets closed flat on Thursday, after another day of tight trading, as gloomy news about Europe's economy dampened the impact of better-than-expected jobless claims. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard stated that central bank stimulus has been ramped up this year with the decision to increase outright bond purchases to $85 billion a month and that a growing balance sheet could be complicated to unwind. Bullard, who votes on policy this year, predicted US growth will accelerate to 3.2 percent in 2013, a pace would allow the Federal Open Market Committee to consider slowing its bond buying after this spring from a rate of $85 billion a month. Policy makers have pushed the benchmark interest rate close to zero and expanded Fed assets to a record exceeding $3 trillion to fuel growth and reduce 7.9 percent unemployment. On the economy front, the number of people who applied last week for new jobless benefits fell sharply, but it’s unclear whether the unexpected drop mainly reflects an improved labor market or the effects of a blizzard that battered the Northeast. Initial jobless claims sank 27,000 to a seasonally adjusted 341,000 in the week ended February 9.

In Europe, the euro-zone economy fared even worse than expected in the final three months of 2012, with a steeper-than-expected drop in gross domestic product keeping prospects alive for a further rate cut by the European Central Bank despite that recent signs the downturn had bottomed. Gross domestic product, or GDP, across the 17-nation region contracted by 0.6% compared with the third quarter and fell 0.9% when stacked up against the fourth quarter of 2011, the European Union statistics agency, Eurostat reported.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 9.52 points or 0.07 percent to 13,973.40, the Nasdaq added 1.78 points or 0.06 percent to 3,198.66 and the S&P 500 was up by 1.05 points or 0.07 percent to 1,521.38.

Indian ADRs closed mostly in red on Thursday, Tata Motors was down 1.40%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 0.94%, Infosys was down by 0.55% and ICICI Bank was down 0.22%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank was up 0.82%.

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