US markets closed higher as oil prices rebound

The US markets closed higher on Thursday, as a rebound in oil prices boosted the main benchmarks, which had been struggling to hold on to small gains throughout the session. Oil prices erased steep losses to end sharply higher, after news reported that Venezuela’s oil minister announced his country would meet with fellow oil producers next month in an effort to stabilize prices. On the economy front, the number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits last week rose by 10,000 to 272,000, but remained nearly a post-recession low. Yet the average of new claims over the past four weeks fell by 1,250 to 272,000 to mark the lowest level since early December. The monthly average smooths out fluctuations in the more volatile weekly report and is seen as a more accurate predictor of labor-market trends. The low number of claims, a proxy for layoffs, indicates companies are sticking to current employment levels despite slower US economic growth and stock-market turmoil in early 2016. Some 2.25 million people collected weekly unemployment benefits, known as continuing claims, in the seven days ended February 13. That was 19,000 lower from the prior week.

Meanwhile, US orders for long-lasting or durable goods jumped 4.9% in January to mark the biggest gain in 10 months, but underlying business investment remained soft. The spike in orders in January follows a revised 4.6% drop in December, so it’s far from clear if the upswing in early 2016 is more than just a temporary blip. Business investment has been weak for months due to falling exports and waning demand by energy producers for equipment to drill for fossil fuels. There’s been no change in those trends. Yet core orders are nearly 3% lower now compared with a year ago, reflecting a slowdown in business investment that acted as a drag on the economy in the second half of 2015. The average rate of business investment over the past three months is also negative.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 212.30 points or 1.29 percent to 16,697.29 the Nasdaq was up 39.60 points or 0.87 percent to 4,582.21 while, the S&P 500 gained 21.90 points or 1.13 percent to 1,951.70.   

The Indian ADRs closed mostly in red; Tata Motors was down 0.78%, HDFC Bank was down 0.56% and ICICI Bank was down 0.28%. On the other hand, Wipro was up 0.05% and Infosys was up 0.03%.