US: Market falls on economic concerns, U.S.-China tensions

The US stock market finished session lower on Thursday, 16 July 2020, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average snapping a four-day winning streak, as elevated levels of unemployment claims heightened concerns about the economic toll from rising coronavirus cases. Meanwhile, U.S.-China tensions also weighed down stocks.

At closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 135.39 points, or 0.5%, to 26,734.71. The S&P 500 index dropped 10.99 points, or 0.34%, to 3,215.57. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index sank 76.66 points, or 0.73%, to 10,473.83.

A jump in cases of the virus has forced California and other states to shut down again, sparking fears of more business damage and slowing the pace of a Wall Street rally.

ECONOMIC NEWS: US Housing Market Index Stands At Solid Pre-Pandemic Level In July, Notes NAHB-US homebuilder confidence showed another substantial improvement in the month of July, according to a report released by the National Association of Home Builders on Thursday. The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index surged up to 72 in July after skyrocketing to 58 in June. With the much bigger than expected jump, the NAHB noted the index now stands at the solid pre-pandemic reading in March before the coronavirus outbreak affected much of the nation. The sharp increase by the headline index came as the index gauging current sales conditions jumped to 79 in July from 63 in June and the measure charting traffic of prospective buyers surged up 58 from 43.

US Retail Sales Improve Substantially In June-US retail sales soared by 7.5% in June after skyrocketing by an upwardly revised 18.2% in May, reflecting the reopening of businesses following the coronavirus-induced lockdowns, the Commerce Department reported on Thursday. The report showed a notable slowdown in the pace of growth by motor vehicles and parts dealers, although auto sales still jumped by 8.2% in June after spiking by 48.7% in May. Excluding sales by motor vehicles and parts dealers, retail sales shot up by 7.3% in May after soaring by 12.1% in May. Ex-auto sales were also expected to surge up by 5.0%. Sales by gas stations showed another notable increase, with the sales growth partly due to a recent increase in gas prices. Core retail sales, which exclude automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, leapt by 5.6% in June after surging up by 10.1% in May.

US Weekly Jobless Claims Stay Above 1 Million -US first-time claims for unemployment benefits slipped to 1.300 million in the week ended July 11th, a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's revised level 1.310 million. Jobless claims fell for the fifteenth consecutive week, although the pace of decline has slowed considerably from April and May.

Among Indian ADR, HDFC Bank fell 0.58% to $46.46, ICICI Bank dropped 1.38% to $9.26, Tata Motors fell 1.57% to $6.91, Wipro fell 1.04% to $3.81, while Dr Reddys Labs was up 2.1% to $54.82, WNS Holdings added 6.36% to $61.33, and INFOSYS rose 2.69% to $12.23. Vedanta ended flat at $5.81.

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