US markets gain on Fed testimony; S&P 500 closes at record high

28 Feb 2014 Evaluate

The US markets edged higher on Thursday, with benchmark S&P 500 closing at a fresh record, as investors welcomed dovish remarks from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen before the Senate Banking Committee. The Federal Reserve wants a firmer handle on the causes of a recent string of weak economic data to determine whether it reflects a broader economic slowdown that could call into question its policy of scaling back monetary easing. Yellen blamed recent lackluster economic data on unusually bad weather, but added that it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what effect the weather had on the economy overall. Yellen doesn’t think that cutting the interest rate the Fed pays banks on reserves parked at the central bank will spur lending. That rate is now set at 0.25%. On the economy front, the number of people applying for unemployment benefits rose last week to match the highest level of 2014, suggesting that progress in a gradually recovering US labor market has slackened off. Initial jobless claims climbed 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000 in the week ended February 22. The average of new claims over the past month, usually a more reliable gauge than the up-and-down weekly number, was unchanged at 338,250.

Meanwhile, orders for US durable goods fell 1.0% in January as demand tapered off for most big-ticket items except military hardware. Aircraft orders sank 20.2% on fewer Boeing bookings and autos were down 2.2%. Stripping out the volatile transportation sector, orders rose 1.1%. Yet shipments of core capital goods, a category used to calculate quarterly economic growth, dropped 0.8% in January. Orders for December, meanwhile, were revised to show a 5.3% decline.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 74.24 points or 0.46 percent, to 16,272.65. The Nasdaq Composite was up by 26.87 points or 0.63 percent, to 4,318.93 and the S&P 500 gained 9.13 points or 0.49 percent, to close at 1,854.29.

The Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Thursday; Tata Motors was up by 1.23%, ICICI Bank was up by 0.57%, Infosys was up by 0.47% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.22%. On the other hand, HDFC Bank was down 0.03%.

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