Meanwhile, fading hopes about peace talks between Russia and Ukraine after the former continued to shell certain areas of Ukraine despite having promised to scale down military operations on Tuesday weighed as well on sentiments.
At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index declined by 65.38 points, or 0.19%, to 35,228.81. The S&P500 index dropped by 29.15 points, or 0.63%, to 4,602.45. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was down 177.36 points, or 1.21%, to 14,442.27.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE exchange by 1420 to 1906 and 145 closed unchanged. In the NASDAQ, 1579 issues advanced, 3132 issues declined, and 229 issues unchanged.
Total 7 of 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes declined, with bottom performing sector were consumer discretionary (down 1.5%), information technology(down 1.36%), financials (down 0.7%), and real estate (down 0.57%), while top performing issues included energy (up 1.17%) and utilities (up 0.84%).
ECONOMIC NEWS: US Private Sector Adds 455,000 New Jobs-US private sector employment increased by slightly more than expected in the month of March, according to a report released by payroll processor ADP on Wednesday. ADP said private sector employment jumped by 455,000 jobs in March after surging by an upwardly revised 486,000 jobs in February. The report showed employment in the service-providing sector spiked by 377,000 jobs, led by a 161,000 jump in jobs in the leisure and hospitality industry. Employment in the goods-producing sector also increased by 79,000 jobs, as manufacturing employment rose by 54,000 jobs. ADP said employment at small businesses climbed by 90,000 jobs, while large and medium businesses added 177,000 jobs and 188,000 jobs, respectively.
US GDP Revised Marginally Lower In Q4-US real gross domestic product increased by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, reflecting a modest downward revision from the previously estimated 7% spike, a report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed. The slightly slower than previously estimated GDP growth primarily reflected downward revisions to consumer spending and exports that were partly offset by an upward revision to private inventory investment. Still, it remains the strongest expansion since a record growth of 33.8% in Q3 2020, with private inventories making the biggest upward contribution. Considering full 2021, the US economy expanded 5.7%.
Among Indian ADR, HDFC Bank fell 0.95% to $61.23, WNS Holdings sank 0.81% to $86.76, Dr Reddy's Labs fell 0.33% to $56.64, and INFOSYS fell 0.56% to $24.97. Wipro fell 2.36% to $7.85, Tata Motors fell 3.09% to $28.25, and Azure Power Global dropped 8.61% to $17.62. ICICI Bank added 0.58% to $19.01.
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