US markets advance; S&P 500 nears record high

15 Mar 2013 Evaluate

The US markets advanced on Thursday, lifting the S&P 500 index within 2 points of its all-time closing high, as investors embraced the latest confirmation of an expanding economy encouraged by economic report. The number of people who applied last week for new unemployment benefits fell to the second lowest level in five years, perhaps reflecting an uptick in the steadily improving US labor market. Initial jobless claims fell by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 332,000 in the week ended March 9. The only reading that’s been lower in the past five years occurred in mid-January, but that number was distorted by post-holiday layoffs and other unusual seasonal factors. Besides, the US current account deficit narrowed slightly to $110.4 billion in the fourth quarter, or 2.8% of gross domestic product. The deficit is the lowest since the third quarter of 2011. The narrower deficit in the fourth quarter was accounted for by increases in the surpluses of income and services.

On the other hand, US wholesale prices climbed in February at the fastest rate in five months as the cost of gasoline and other forms of energy surged. The producer price index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in February. Stripping out the volatile food and energy categories, so-called core wholesale prices rose a smaller 0.2%. The core index is viewed by the Federal Reserve as a more accurate gauge of inflationary pressure in the economy. Core prices have also risen 1.7% over the past 12 months, down from 1.8% in January. That’s within the Fed’s target for inflation and suggests there’s little reason for the central bank to halt its latest economic-stimulus program.

Meanwhile, the test, designed to assess whether a bank’s reserves were adequate to withstand another crisis like the credit crunch of 2008, showed that BB&T Corporation and government-owned Ally Financial failed final Federal Reserve stress test results. At the same time the central bank gave passing grades to J.P. Morgan Chase & Company and Goldman Sachs & Company but required them to resubmit their share distribution plans to the central bank by the end of the third quarter citing weaknesses in their capital plans. The stress tests were set up by the Fed to find out if 18 of the largest financial institutions can withstand a deep recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 83.86 points or 0.58 percent to 14,539.10, the S&P 500 added 8.71 points or 0.56 percent to 1,563.23 and the Nasdaq inched up 13.81 points or 0.43 percent to 3,258.93.

The Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Thursday, ICICI Bank was up 0.36%, Infosys was up by 0.32% and HDFC Bank was up 0.26%. On the other hand, Tata Motors was down 0.10% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 0.03%.

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