Indian ADRs end mostly higher led by Tata Motors and Dr Reddys
U.S. stocks closed mostly lower on Wednesday, 08 January 2014 after minutes from the last Federal Open Market Committee meeting showed that a majority of officials judged the effects of the monthly asset purchases to be diminishing over time. Equity indices began the session on a lower note, but the Nasdaq and S&P 500 staged swift rallies to new highs. The two indices hovered near their best levels of the session for the remainder of the trading day, but tested their lows during the final hour.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 68.20 points, or 0.4%, on Wednesday to 16,462.74, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 12.43 points, or 0.3%, to 4,165.61. The S&P 500 closed down less than a point to 1,837.49.
Consumer staples, telecom services and utilities led the slide. Twenty out of thirty Dow components ended in the red.
Investors also pondered the implications of an upbeat private-sector jobs report that was released on Wednesday morning.
The latest minutes showed FOMC members were becoming generally more positive on their outlooks for the U.S. economy. The majority of members agreed with the December FOMC decision to begin scaling back (tapering) the quantitative easing of the Fed's monetary policy.
A strengthening U.S. economy suggests the Fed can wind down its massive quantitative easing program that has been in place the past few years. The U.S. ADP national employment report, released Wednesday morning, came out a bit hotter than expected. The ADP report added 238,000 jobs in December, which is above the 200,000 rise that was expected.
The U.S. dollar index was boosted following the ADP report and the FOMC minutes, hitting a fresh six-week high on Wednesday.
The European Central Bank and Bank of England hold their monthly meetings on Thursday. There is also important economic data coming out of China late this weektrade and inflation figures.
In overnight news, the European Union reported that its retail sales pace in November was the best in a dozen years, at up 1.4% from October and up 1.6% year on year. The consensus forecast was for just a 0.1% rise. German manufacturing orders also rose in November. However, this upbeat data from the Euro zone failed to support the Euro currency against the other majors.
Among Apollo Education Group shot up 14.2% after the for-profit education company's quarterly earnings beat analyst estimates. Shares of Container Store Group dropped nearly 15% after the retailer said late Tuesday that it had swung to a third-quarter loss. Twitter shares fell 3.5% after Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded the social media company to sell from hold.
Bullion prices ended lower on Wednesday, 08 January 2014. Prices were pressured by a higher U.S. dollar index and on fresh, upbeat U.S. economic data. Gold futures settled lower for a third consecutive session on Wednesday as data showing that the private sector in December added the most jobs in more than a year helped buoy the U.S. dollar. Prices for the yellow metal continued to decline in electronic trading following the release of the Federal Reserve's December policy meeting minutes, which came after the official close of gold trading on Comex.
Gold for February delivery fell $4.10, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,225.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. March silver shed 25 cents, or 1.3%, to $19.54 an ounce.
Crude Oil futures settled at a six-week low on Wednesday, 08 January 2014 dropping below $93 a barrel after a U.S. government report showed that crude supplies fell for a sixth straight week, but by less than expected and stockpiles of gasoline and distillates jumped.
February crude oil fell $1.34, or 1.4%, to settle at $92.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On Wednesday, EIA reported that crude supplies fell by 2.7 million barrels for the week ended 3 January 2014. Market had expected a decline of 3.3 million barrels. Gasoline supplies climbed 6.2 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose 5.8 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles were expected to climb 2 million barrels while distillate supplies were seen up 1.9 million barrels.
Today's session saw the most activity in recent days as 743 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Indian ADRs ended mostly higher on Wednesday. In the banking space, ICICI Bank rose 0.47% at $36.09 and HDFC Bank was down 0.84% at $34.16. In the IT space, Infosys shed 0.59% at $55.76 and Wipro advanced 0.73% at $12.43. In the other sectors, Tata Motors added 1.93% at $30.10 and Dr Reddys Laboratories gained 1.68% at $40.59.
Tomorrow, the December Challenger Job Cuts report will be released at 7:30 ET while weekly initial claims will be reported at 8:30 ET.
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