US markets edge lower ahead of Friday’s jobs report

03 Jul 2013 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday, losing steam gained from reports showing solid growth for car sales and factory orders as investors took cautious approach of placing big bets ahead of the government’s June jobs report. New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley reiterated that market fears about rate hikes are misplaced when it comes to the Fed’s intentions to scale back on asset purchases as the economy improves. On the economy front, US car makers posted strong sales for the month of June. Ford Motor Company led the charge in June with a 13% rise in its US auto sales, as consumers’ appetite for new vehicles continued unabated. General Motors notched 6.5% growth, while Chrysler Group LLC’s sales rose 8.2%. Broadly, US new auto sales are expected to rise 6.3% from a year earlier but fall 5.3% from May, according to car-shopping website Edmunds.com. Besides, orders for goods produced in US factories climbed 2.1% in May. Factory orders rose a revised 1.3% in April, up from a prior estimate of 1.0% growth. Orders for durable goods - products meant to last at least three years - rose 3.7% in May.

Meanwhile, as inventory remained low, home prices in May continued to rise, posting the fastest year-over-year growth since 2006, according to data released. Home prices, including distressed sales, rose 2.6% in May, and were up 12.2% from a year earlier, the largest annual growth since February 2006. Excluding short sales and other distressed properties, prices rose 2.3% in May, and were up 11.6% from the year-earlier period.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 42.55 points or 0.28 percent, to close at 14,932.40, S&P 500 was down 0.88 points or 0.05 percent, to close at 1,614.08, while Nasdaq edged lower 1.09 points or 0.03 percent, to end at 3,433.40.

The Indian ADRs closed mostly in red on Tuesday, ICICI Bank was down 0.69%, Tata Motors was down 0.66% and Infosys was down 0.52%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.17% and HDFC Bank was up by 0.06%.

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