US market plunges ahead of European summit results

09 Dec 2011 Evaluate

The US markets suffered a sharp decline on Thursday as European leaders gathered in Brussels one more time to find a solution to the widening debt contagion in the region. ECB President Mario Draghi’s statement that bank did not consider cutting rates further and remained cautious about further bond purchases weighed on the sentiments. Though, the latest meeting of leaders has raised the hopes that at least the 17 euro zone member nations of the 27 member European Union will accelerate the fiscal union and agree on fiscal spending limits. Events in Europe drew the spotlight from positive news on the US economy where the Labor Department reported US jobless claims falling by 23,000 to 381,000 last week.

EU leaders are under pressure from ratings agencies and bond investors to devise a comprehensive plan to rein in sovereign debts that have sent some countries to the brink of default. The market came off its lows late in the session on detail reports of a draft proposal at the EU summit and Germany opposing some measures in the draft conclusions. Germany’s Angela Merkel has supported a stronger fiscal union that could penalize members if they don’t abide by deficit limits; some EU members don’t want such changes. Also, the ECB cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 1% and stated that it would supply banks with unlimited cash for three years.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 198.67 points, or 1.63 percent, to 11,997.70. The Standard and Poor’s 500 closed lower by 26.66 points, or 2.11 percent, to 1,234.35, while the Nasdaq composite lost 52.83 points, or 1.99 percent, to 2,596.38.

The Indian ADRs made a mixed closing on Thursday, Infosys Technologies was down by 2.29%, ICICI Bank was down by 1.67%, Tata Motors was down by 0.73% and HDFC Bank was down by 0.63%. On the flip side, Wipro was up by 0.04%.

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