US markets closed mixed on drop in jobless claims

The US markets made a mixed closing on Thursday, with stocks breaking their longest losing streak in nine months, helped by a dip in jobless claims and signs of stabilization in Europe. But a steep drop in Cisco Systems Inc. helped send the Nasdaq Composite Index lower. Also, investors assessed a disclosure by JPMorgan Chase & Company, the biggest US bank by assets, that it had a $2 billion trading loss after positions in credit securities proved riskier than expected. The Labor Department reported weekly applications for unemployment benefits fell by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 367,000 in the week ended May 5. The number of people who applied for jobless benefits last week was essentially unchanged, suggesting little movement in what’s been a slowly healing US labor market. Claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 368,000 from an original reading of 365,000.

However, technology stocks tumbled after Cisco Chief Executive John Chambers warned of cautious tech spending, sending its shares down, and weighing down the stocks of other firms that sell IT products and services to businesses. Besides, J.P. Morgan Chase & Company, the last bank on Wall Street with any semblance of industry dignity for how it managed and comported itself in the financial crisis, became the latest confidence-shaking bank on Wall Street to get waylaid by today’s financial system. JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon stated that the bank made egregious mistakes and that trading losses were self inflicted.

In Europe, pressure on Spanish bonds abated, a day after the government moved to partly nationalize the country’s fourth-largest lender and was expected to take further action to shore up a financial sector decimated by the collapse of a property bubble. The sentiments were also lifted on hopes for consensus in Greece, as a small leftist party seemed to shift ranks and could team up with the Socialists and conservative New Democracy to form a government.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 19.98 points, or 0.16 percent, at 12,855.00. The S&P 500 gained 3.41 points, or 0.25 percent, at 1,357.99, while the Nasdaq was down by 1.07 points, or 0.04 percent, at 2,933.64.

Indian ADRs closed in green on Thursday; Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.36%, ICICI Bank was up 0.33%, HDFC Bank was up 0.26%, Wipro was up 0.07% and Infosys Technologies was up 0.04%.