US markets gain on good monthly jobs report

The US markets climbed for a third consecutive session on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its longest winning run since the middle of July, as investors looked to the government’s monthly jobs report. Investors were however cautious after President Barack Obama arrived for the G-20 gathering. On the economy front, fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that layoffs continue to dwindle in a gradually improving US labor market. The Labor Department reported that Initial jobless claims in the last week of August fell by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 323,000, which was just a tick above a five-and-a-half year low. The four-week average, a more reliable gauge than the volatile weekly number, dropped by 3,000 to 328,500 and touched the lowest level since October 2007 - two months before the Great Recession began. Separately, the increase in US productivity in the second quarter was much higher than initially reported, mainly because workers generated even more goods and services. The Labor Department reported that Productivity rose 2.3% in the April-to-June period, up sharply from a first read of 0.9%.

Besides, US service-sector companies in areas such as retail, construction and education expanded in August at the fastest pace on record, according to a survey of industry executives. The Institute for Supply Management stated its poll of purchasing managers - the executives who buy supplies for their companies - climbed to 58.6% last month from 56.0% in July. That’s the highest level since the index was created in 2008 and the best performance since the end of 2005, extrapolating from ISM’s historical data.

On the other hand, private-sector employment growth slowed last month as employers added the fewest jobs since May, but labor conditions may still be strong enough for the Federal Reserve to start tapering its massive bond-buying program soon. Private-sector jobs rose by 176,000 in August, with gains at small, midsize and large businesses, according to data released by Automatic Data Processing Inc. That total is down from the 198,000 jobs created in July. Additionally, factory orders decreased 2.4% in July to a seasonally adjusted $485 billion, the US Department of Commerce reported. New orders for durable goods fell 7.4%, led by transportation equipment, compared with a prior estimate of a 7.3% drop. New orders for nondurable goods rose 2.4% in July. Overall shipments rose 1.1% in July.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 6.61 points or 0.04 percent to 14,937.50, the S&P 500 was up 2.00 points or 0.12 percent to 1,655.08, while the Nasdaq added 9.74 points or 0.27 percent to 3,658.78.

Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Thursday; ICICI Bank was up 3.50%, HDFC Bank was up 1.87%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.57% and Tata Motors was up 0.39%. On the other hand, Infosys was down 0.56%.