US markets ends mixed on a volatile day of trade

The US markets made a mixed closing on Tuesday, as Wall Street looked to a gathering of European finance ministers for signs of progress in stemming the region’s debt crisis. The markets rallied in early session as consumer confidence rose the most since 2003. The consumer confidence index surged to 56 from a revised 40.9 in October. The second economic data in as many days that indicated vibrant consumers in the US appear to be not worried about the growing problems in Europe. Investor feels that the US banks are not the epicenter of the crisis, but they are impacted by credit-default swaps, a form of insurance for European bonds, thought to be held by large US financial institutions.

However, Fitch Ratings revised down the outlook on the US credit rating to 'negative' yesterday, affirming the AAA sovereign rating. Also, Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. had long-term credit grades reduced to A- from A by Standard & Poor’s after the ratings firm revised criteria for dozens of the world’s biggest lenders. Besides, Moody's Investors Service warned that it could downgrade the subordinated and junior debt of 87 European banks, citing the governments' inability to support them amid the region's mounting sovereign-debt problems.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 32.62 points, or 0.28 percent, to 11,555.60. The Standard and Poor’s 500 closed higher by 2.64 points, or 0.22 percent, to 1,195.19, while the Nasdaq composite lost 11.83 points, or 0.47 percent, to 2,515.51.

The Indian ADRs made a mixed closing on Tuesday, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up by 0.45%, Tata Communications was up 0.05% and Wipro was up 0.04%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank was down by 0.72% and Infosys Technologies was down by 0.44%.