US markets end lower on concern from Europe

The US markets made a lower closing on Tuesday on reports that the European Central Bank (ECB) would probably wind down its $90-billion monthly bond purchases. The ECB may gradually scale back its bond purchases of 80 billion euros ($89.7 billion) a month before the program’s scheduled March 2017 conclusion. The overall mood in the market remained subdued as investors await corporate earnings season to kick off in earnest next week. Traders were also concerned with Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker’s statement that the Federal Reserve should adopt a strategy of raising interest rates before inflation moves higher like it did in 1994, stressing that “prudent pre-emptive action can help us avoid the hard-to-predict emergence of a situation that requires more drastic action after the fact.” Lacker, who has previously advocated for rate increases, isn’t a voting member of the Fed’s policy-setting panel this year.

Also, Fed Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans said that borrowing costs could be raised as early as the next policy meeting in November, speaking after his counterparts for Richmond and Cleveland called for a hike.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by 85.40 points, or 0.47%, to close at 18,168.45.The S&P 500 Index was down by 10.71 points, or 0.5%, to finish at 2,150.49, while the Nasdaq Composite index closed lower by 11.22 points, or 0.21%, at 5,289.66.

The Indian ADRs ended mostly in red on Tuesday, Dr Reddy’s was down by 0.51%, Wipro was down by 0.04%, Tata Motors lost 0.15% and Infy was down by 0.01%.

On the other hand, HDFC Bank was up by 0.76% and ICICI Bank was up by 0.09%.