US markets slip ahead of Fed’s key policy decision

18 Dec 2013 Evaluate

The US markets closed lower on Tuesday, as investors digested a slew of economic data to assess how and when the Fed will decide to begin reducing its $85 billion a month stimulus program, which added more than $1 trillion to its balance sheet over the past year. The Fed is expected to announce its decision on Wednesday afternoon. Besides, a bipartisan budget deal cleared a key hurdle in the Senate, and advanced toward final passage. A procedural motion on the two-year agreement drew 67 yes votes and 33 no votes. The bill sets spending levels for the current and next fiscal years at just over $1 trillion and is estimated to cut the deficit by $85 billion over 10 years. On the economy front, the overall price of consumer goods was unchanged in November as lower costs of gas offset increases in housing and airfare. The consumer price index was flat last month on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Labor Department stated. The core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, advanced 0.2%.

Meanwhile, the US current account deficit narrowed to $94.8 billion in the third quarter, marking the lowest level since the fall of 2009. The gap fell from a downwardly revised $96.6 billion in the second quarter. The smaller deficit was largely the result of less income received by foreigners on US investments. The US trade deficit on goods and services meanwhile rose by $2.6 billion to $120.7 billion. Separately, a gauge of home-builder confidence rose in December to the highest level in four months, led by views on current sales of single-family homes. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing-market index reached 58 this month, up from 54 in November.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 9.31 points or 0.06 percent to 15,875.26, the S&P 500 was down 5.54 points or 0.31 percent to 1,781.00, while Nasdaq dropped 5.84 points or 0.14 percent to 4,023.68.

Indian ADRs closed mostly in red on Tuesday; ICICI Bank was down 1.27%, HDFC Bank was down 1.09% and Tata Motors was down by 0.36%. On the other hand, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.26% and Infosys was up 0.21%.   

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