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US stocks end in the red before release of Fed's Beige Book

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Capital Market
Last Updated : Dec 04 2013 | 11:56 PM IST

Indian ADRs end strictly lower led by banking ADRs

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday, 03 December 2013 with the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling for a third straight day on uncertainty over when the Federal Reserve will begin to scale back stimulus and self-fulfilling fears the market was overdue for a pullback from record levels. The benchmark index opened the session in negative territory as a cautious trade in Europe contributed to the early losses. However, an afternoon bid lifted indices off their lows, leading to just a modest decline.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 100 points during the session before settling at 15,914.62, down 94.15 points, or 0.6%. The S&P 500 lost 5.75 points, or 0.3%, to 1,795.15 and the Nasdaq Composite declined 8.06 points, or 0.2%, to 4,037.20.

This is a big week for economic data, highlighted by the European Central Bank's monthly monetary policy meeting on Thursday and the U.S. jobs report on Friday. However, there are other key reports out this week, including Wednesday's U.S. Federal Reserve's beige book and Thursday's U.S. GDP report.

There was no economic data of note released today.

Monday's batch of generally upbeat U.S. data fell into the camp that reckons the Fed will act to taper sooner rather than later. This week's data will provide at least some new insight on the timing of the Fed's next move. Meantime, the ECB recently eased its monetary policy and the market place is wondering what central bank's next move will be.

In overnight news, the OECD reported inflation in its 34 member economies fell for a third straight month in Octoberto 1.3% from 1.5% in September, on an annualized basis. The EU statistics agency said Tuesday the EU's producer prices fell at the fastest rate in four years in October, at down 0.5% from September and down 1.4% from the previous year. This news is likely to keep the ECB in a very easy money policy mode, as the central bank does not want deflation to set in.

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Among major stocks under focus, shares of Apple rose 2.7% to $566.32. UBS upgraded the stock to buy from neutral and raised its price target to $650 from $540, saying more institutional money is likely to move back into the shares in 2014. Apple also jumped following news China Mobile began accepting iPhone pre-orders.

Bullion prices ended lower on Tuesday, 03 December 2013. Gold futures settled with a minor loss on Tuesday, holding their ground at their lowest level in about five months as traders await economic data this week, including the monthly U.S. jobs report, for clues on the Federal Reserve's plan for its stimulus program.

Gold for February delivery fell $1.10, or 0.1%, to settle at $1,220.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Comex Tuesday, March silver fell 22 cents, or 1.2%, to $19.065 an ounce.

Crude Oil futures closed higher on Tuesday, 03 December 2013 as support from expectations for a decline in U.S. supplies, upbeat prospects for global demand and protests in Ukraine lifted Nymex prices above $96 a barrel to their loftiest settlement in more than a month.

Crude oil for January delivery rose $2.22, or 2.4%, to settle at $96.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's report will follow Wednesday morning. Market forecasts a decline of 1.25 million barrels in crude supplies for the week ended 29 November 2013. That would be the first weekly draw in 11 weeks for the EIA data. The survey also showed forecasts for a 2 million-barrel climb in gasoline stockpiles and a decline of 1 million barrels for distillate inventories, which include heating oil.

Traders also kept an eye out for comments from key oil producers as members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries readied for a meeting in Vienna on Wednesday.

Trading volume was just above average as 770 million shares changed hands on the floor of the NYSE.

Indian ADRs ended lower on Tuesday. In the banking space, ICICI Bank tumbled 2.63% at $34.80 and HDFC Bank slipped 0.4% at $32.75. In the IT space, Infosys shed 0.65% at $53.21 and Wipro declined 1.13% at $11.39. In the other sectors, Tata Motors was down 0.99% at $31.91 and Dr Reddys Laboratories fell 1.25% at $39.54.

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be reported at 7:00 ET and November ADP Employment Change will cross the wires at 8:15 ET. The October trade balance will be released at 8:30 ET while new home sales for September and October will be announced at 10:00 ET. Also at 10:00 ET, investors will receive the ISM Services Index for November. The busy day of data will be topped off with the 14:00 ET release of the Federal Reserve's December Beige Book.

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First Published: Dec 04 2013 | 9:46 AM IST

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