US markets closed mostly lower on Thursday

The US market closed mostly lower on Thursday, with Dow closing little changed in green, as weak economic data, disappointing earnings and skittishness ahead of the closely watched employment report combined to weigh on investor sentiment. On the economy front, the number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits fell in late April to a nearly 16-year bottom, largely reflecting the low rate of layoffs taking place across the economy. Some 2.12 million people collected weekly unemployment benefits, known as continuing claims, in the seven days stretching from April 17 to April 23. The number of unemployment checks the government sends out has tumbled 82% after hitting a record 11.6 million in early 2010, when the US was in the early stages of a recovery following the Great Recession. The figure includes millions of people who received emergency benefits that are no longer available.

Meanwhile, San Francisco Fed President John Williams stated that two or three Federal Reserve interest rate increases this year would be reasonable, but the central bank will continue to watch economic data. Williams touted progress in the labor market and stated concerns about a global slowdown have dissipated somewhat. Williams does not vote on the Fed’s policymaking committee this year. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard stated that he has not decided whether he will support a June interest rate increase. Bullard added that there are economic data that support the Fed’s view for two rate hikes this year and also data that supports the more pessimistic market view of fewer moves. Bullard added that disappointing growth caused him to dial back some of his projections about interest rate policy because of that.

The Nasdaq was down by 8.55 points or 0.18 percent to 4,717.09, S&P 500 dropped 0.49 points or 0.02 percent to 2,050.63 while Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 9.45 points or 0.05 percent to 17,660.71.

The Indian ADRs closed mixed; HDFC Bank was up 0.78%, Tata Motors was up 0.64% and ICICI Bank was up by 0.11%. On the other hand, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 0.21% and Infosys was down by 0.04%.