The US markets edged higher on Monday, as investors shrugged off the narrow scope of EU and US sanctions following the vote in Crimea in favor of leaving Ukraine. Investors instead focused on better-than-expected economic data, including industrial production and manufacturing activity in the New York region. An index of manufacturing conditions in the New York region showed modest improvement in March after a sharp drop in the prior month. The Empire State’s general conditions index rose to 5.6 in March from 4.5 in February. The index had fallen by 8 points in February, a drop attributed to severe winter weather. Industrial production climbed 0.6% in February, the fastest monthly growth rate since August as output recovered after the unusually rough weather to start the year. The gain in February came as manufacturing output grew 0.8% and as mining output grew 0.3%, while utilities output eased 0.2% after a 3.8% surge in January. In addition, January’s industrial production was revised to a 0.2% fall from an initially reported 0.3% drop, though there were revisions to November’s and December’s numbers as well. Capacity utilization rose to 78.8% from 78.5%.
Meanwhile, a gauge of confidence among home builders ticked up in March, but remained close to the lowest level since May and signaled that builders, generally, are pessimistic about sales trends. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing-market index rose one point to 47 this month. The builder-confidence gauge hit a recent peak of 58 in August, which was the highest level since 2005.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 181.55 points or 1.13 percent, to 16,247.22, the Nasdaq Composite was up by 34.55 points or 0.81 percent, to 4,279.95, while the S&P 500 gained 17.70 points or 0.96 percent, to close at 1,858.83.
The Indian ADRs closed in green on Monday; ICICI Bank was up 0.77%, Tata Motors was up by 0.74%, HDFC Bank was up 0.34%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.33% and Wipro was up by 0.24%.