US markets closed mixed after weekend election results in Europe

The US markets made a mixed closing on Monday, amid concerns over election results in Europe. Investor’s sentiments clearly reflected on voting results over the weekend in which Greece and France rejected pro-austerity candidates. However, the market recovered in the afternoon trading after sentiment rebounded and bank stocks closed higher. US consumer borrowing increased at the fastest pace in March as car loans and student loans drove the increase in loans. In Europe, the market took a note of voter discontent in France but the newly elected President Francois Hollande has little leverage in changing the broad direction of the euro zone policies generally set by Germany.

Besides, in Greece, it remained unclear whether the two major parties would be able to form a coalition government that could continue the spending cuts needed to ensure the continuation of rescue funds. The two established parties in Greece both lost seats in parliament, leaving no party with a clear majority needed to form a government. The vote could pave the way for a new round of elections and will lengthen the uncertainty facing Greece, and how it plans to comply with terms of the European bailout package.Moreover, a day after voting in Greece and France, the head of the International Monetary Fund spoke in favor of gradual moves to reduce budget deficits to avoid inflicting more damage on struggling economies. IMF head Christine Lagarde made her comments in an address in Zurich, but did not refer to any individual countries.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower by 29.74 points, or 0.23 percent, at 13,008.50. The S&P 500 gained 0.48 points, or 0.04 percent, at 1,369.58, while the Nasdaq was up by 1.42 points, or 0.05 percent, at 2,957.76.

Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Monday; Tata Motors was up 0.82%, ICICI Bank was up 0.67% and HDFC Bank was up 0.41%. On the flip side, Infosys Technologies was down 0.82% and Wipro was down 0.19%.