US markets closed mostly lower on some weak earnings

25 Jul 2013 Evaluate

The US markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreating from the prior day’s record close, amid mixed earnings and rising borrowing costs. Apple reported flat sales and a decline yet healthy earnings in the fiscal third quarter. Caterpillar Inc. fell after the maker of construction and mining equipment reported a drop in second-quarter profit and lowered its full-year outlook. AT&T Inc. also weighed on the blue-chip index, after the telecommunications company reported second-quarter profit decline of 2.1%. On the economy front, the US flash manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to a 53.2 reading in July from 51.9 in June, Markit stated. This is the highest level in four months. Details of the report were strong as new orders and employment increased. The Markit index is similar in design to the Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index, which will be released in one week. The Markit index has been higher than the ISM factory index in 22 of the past 24 months. The last reading for the ISM index was 50.9.

Besides, sales of new homes in the US surged in June to reach the highest level in more than five years, a sign that a spike in interest rates may have done little to deter buyers. The sales of new homes last month rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 497,000, a level of demand last seen in May 2008.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 25.50 points or 0.16 percent to 15,542.20, the S&P 500 lost 6.45 points or 0.38 percent to 1,685.94 while the Nasdaq was up 0.33 points or 0.01 percent to 3,579.60.

The Indian ADRs ended mostly in red on Wednesday, HDFC Bank was down 1.12%, ICICI Bank was down by 0.83% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 0.24%. On the other hand, Infosys was up 0.85% and Wipro was up by 0.09%.

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