US markets rose to another record close

16 May 2013 Evaluate

The US markets rose on Wednesday, with hopes for continuing stimulus from the US Federal Reserve as well as monetary easing by central banks around the globe, amidst some better-than-expected corporate earnings. Also, after declining for three months, a gauge of confidence among home builders rose in May, led by views on current sales and prospective buyers, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing-market index the overall builder-confidence index rose to 44 in May from 41 in April. The US wholesale prices sank in April for the second straight month as the cost of gasoline and vegetables fell sharply. The producer price index declined by a seasonally adjusted 0.7%, to mark the biggest drop in more than three years. Waning price pressures in April lowered the increase in wholesale costs over the past 12 months to 0.6% from 1.1%. That’s the lowest level since last summer.

On the other hand, a measure of New York area manufacturing strength turned negative in May, in what’s another sign of the factory sector struggling against headwinds domestic and foreign. The Empire State manufacturing survey fell into negative territory in May for the first time since January, the New York Fed stated. The general conditions index fell to a negative 1.4 in May from positive 3.1 in April. The index is designed so that readings below zero indicate more respondents saw conditions getting worse than better. Separately, the Federal Reserve reported that industrial production slumped 0.5% in April, dragged lower by a big drop in utilities output but also by a drop in manufacturing. In addition, March's growth was downwardly revised to 0.3% from 0.4%, and February's growth was downwardly revised to 0.9% from 1.1%.

In Europe, weaker-than-expected euro-zone GDP data raised hopes the European Central Bank will ease policy further. France slipped into a recession, while Germany narrowly avoided a contraction by expanding 0.1% in the first quarter, missing expectations of a 0.3% improvement.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 60.44 points or 0.40 percent at 15,275.70, the S&P 500 added 8.44 points or 0.51 percent to 1,658.78 and the Nasdaq inched higher by 9.01 points or 0.26 percent to 3,471.62.

Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Wednesday, ICICI Bank was up 1.19%, HDFC Bank was up 0.58%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up by 0.47% and Tata Motors was up 0.17%. On the flip side, Infosys was down by 0.44%.

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