US markets end modestly higher; Facebook surges by 30%

26 Jul 2013 Evaluate

The US markets ended modestly higher on Thursday, though the trade remained lacklusture on a mixed batch of earnings and economic data. The tech heavy Nasdaq benefited from a substantial gains in Facebook shares, which surged up by around 30 percent to their best levels since the days after the IPO on reporting better than expected second quarter results after the close of trading on Wednesday. On the economic front, the Commerce Department reported a bigger than expected increase in durable goods orders in June, although the growth was largely due to a substantial increase in orders for transportation equipment. Durable goods orders surged by 4.2 percent in June following an upwardly revised 5.2 percent jump in May. However, excluding the 12.8 percent jump in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders were unchanged in June compared to a 1.0 percent increase in May.

However, the Labor Department report showed that initial jobless claims rose by slightly more than expected in the week ended July 20. Initial jobless claims rose to 343,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 336,000. Still, the four-week average of new claims dipped 1,250 from a week earlier.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 13.37 points or 0.09 percent to 15,555.61, the S&P 500 added 4.31 points or 0.26 percent to 1,690.25, while the Nasdaq surged by 25.59 points or 0.71 percent to 3,605.19.

Indian ADRs ended mostly higher on Thursday, HDFC Bank was up by 0.03%, ICICI Bank gained 0.30%, Infosys was up by 0.39%, Wipro added 0.07% and Tata Motors ended higher by 0.24%,

On the other hand Dr Reddy’s was down by 0.09% and Tata Com lost 6.62%.

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