The US markets closed lower on Thursday, with Wall Street halting its record-setting streak, even as data showed that weekly jobless claims fell to a five-year low. The S&P 500 till now has risen this year on expectations of further monetary easing by the US Federal Reserve and other central banks around the globe. The new claims for jobless benefits have hit the lowest level in more than five years, and recent trends signal little change in the pace of layoffs despite federal spending cuts, according to a weekly government report released. The number of people who applied for regular state unemployment-insurance benefits ticked down 4,000 to 323,000 in the week ending May 4, reaching the lowest level since January 2008, the US Department of Labor reported. On the other hand, wholesale inventories grew 0.4% in March, while wholesale sales tumbled 1.6%. The monthly sales drop was the largest since March 2009. The ratio of inventories to sales grew to 1.21 from 1.19 in February.
Meanwhile, Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, stated that the current rules about handling troubled too-big-to-fail financial institutions are insufficient, with too much discretion in the hands of regulators and more standardization needed in the case of bankruptcy. In particular, Plosser cited the Dodd-Frank bank-reform law and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s ability to take troubled firms into receivership.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 22.50 points or 0.15 percent at 15,082.60, the S&P 500 drop 6.02 points or 0.37 percent to 1,626.67 and the Nasdaq inched lower 4.10 points or 0.12 percent to 3,409.17.
Indian ADRs closed in red on Thursday, HDFC Bank was down 1.06%, Infosys was down by 0.55%, ICICI Bank was down 0.48%, Tata Motors was down 0.32% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 0.29%.
