The US markets edged higher on Tuesday, to another record close as Wall Street embraced the view of growing sense of optimism about a still-improving economy. The prices paid for imported goods fell 0.5% in April, mainly because of lower oil costs. Excluding fuel, import prices fell by a smaller 0.2% in April. Fuel import prices sank 1.7% last month after a 0.6% drop in March. The drop in import prices in March was revised to show a 0.2% decrease instead of 0.5% as originally reported. Besides, the National Federation of Independent Business stated its small-business optimism index rose 2.6 points to 92.1 in April, which more than offset March’s drop.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York stated that US households reduced debt during the first quarter by 1% to the lowest level since 2006, resuming a deleveraging trend in the wake of the financial crisis. Household debt fell to $11.2 trillion in the first quarter compared with a peak burden of $12.7 trillion in the third quarter of 2008. Besides, banks in the US have boosted lending as the economy gains strength. The total value of loans at US banks climbed 3.7% in the past year to $7.3 trillion in April, according to a separate Fed report on the assets and liabilities of commercial banks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 123.57 points or 0.82 percent at 15,215.20, the S&P 500 added 16.57 points or 1.01 percent to 1,650.34 and the Nasdaq inched higher by 23.82 points or 0.69 percent to 3,462.61.
Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Tuesday, Tata Motors was up 0.89%, ICICI Bank was up 0.20% and HDFC Bank was up 0.11%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down by 0.65% and Wipro was down 0.10%.
