The US markets closed mostly up on Thursday, with the S&P 500 index closing at a record level for the 50th time in the past 12 months. Investors focused on a number of economic reports and speeches from several Federal Reserve officials. On the economy front, the number of people who applied last week for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level since the end of November, but the level of initial claims appears to have been distorted by harsh winter weather. Jobless claims fell by 26,000 to a seasonally adjusted 323,000 in the week ended March 1. The boom in the stock market and the recovery in house prices led to a nearly $10 trillion increase last year in the net worth of American households. The net worth of American households grew last year by $9.8 trillion, or 14%, to $80.66 trillion. That includes a nearly $3 trillion jump in the fourth quarter alone.
On the other hand, the orders for goods produced in US factories fell 0.7% in January. Factory orders sank by a revised 2% in December, down from a prior estimate of a 1.5% decline. The orders for durable goods - products meant to last at least three years - decreased 1% in January. Orders for nondurable goods slipped 0.4%. Besides, the productivity of US workers and businesses slowed sharply in the final three months of 2013. Productivity rose a revised 1.8% from October through December, down from an original estimate of 3.2%. By contrast, productivity rose 3.5% in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, New York Fed President William Dudley stated that it appears that the economy should be better in 2014 than it was in 2013 while Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser added that he is very worried about potential for unintended consequences of the Fed’s quantitative easing program.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 61.71 points or 0.38 percent, to 16,421.89, the S&P 500 was up by 3.22 points or 0.17 percent, to close at 1,877.03 while the Nasdaq Composite was down by 5.84 points or 0.13 percent, to 4,352.13.
The Indian ADRs closed in green on Thursday; ICICI Bank was up by 1.26%, HDFC Bank was up 0.91%, Infosys was up by 0.49%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.14% and Tata Motors was up 0.06%.