US markets close mostly lower on corporate earnings

18 Jan 2014 Evaluate

The US markets closed mostly lower on Friday, with the Dow closing up slightly, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished modestly lower, as investors analyzed a slew of corporate earnings from Intel Corporation and General Electric Company. On the economy front, construction on new US homes fell in December, pulling back after a November surge, but the whole of last year had the strongest showing since 2007. The US Commerce Department stated that construction on new US homes dropped 9.8% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 999,000, as starts slumped for single-family homes and apartments. Despite December’s decline, home-construction starts for all of 2013 hit 923,400 - the highest annual total since 2007 - pointing to the housing market’s continued recovery last year. Consumer sentiment took a step back in January, which could reflect a rise in gas prices and concerns about the job market. Consumer sentiment as measured by the University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters declined in January, falling to a reading of 80.4 from 82.5 in December.

Meanwhile, Job openings at US workplaces rose to 4 million in November, the highest level since March 2008, from 3.93 million in October. Compared with same period in the prior year, November’s job openings rose 5.6%, as private-sector openings increased 5.9% to 3.62 million, and government positions rose to 379,000 from 368,000. With 10.84 million unemployed people in November, there were about 2.7 potential job seekers per opening, below October’s ratio of 2.8. Separately, December industrial production grew 0.3%, as manufacturing and mining output advanced. The rise was in line with the consensus forecast. For the year, industrial production grew 3.7%, rising 0.9% above its prerecession peak. Capacity utilization edged up to 79.2% from 79.1% in December. November’s gain in industrial production was downwardly revised to 1% from 1.1%, while September and October’s gains were modestly upwardly revised.

The Nasdaq lost 21.11 points or 0.50 percent to 4,197.58, the S&P 500 dropped 7.19 points or 0.39 percent to 1,838.70 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 41.55 points or 0.25 percent to 16,458.56.

Indian ADRs closed mostly in red on Friday; HDFC Bank was down by 0.66%, ICICI Bank was down 0.46%, Infosys was down 0.42% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 0.23%. On the other hand, Tata Motors was up by 0.22%.

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