US Market falls to one-month low on inflation woes

The US stock market closed down for the second straight session on Tuesday, 11 May 2021, with the benchmark S&P 500 hitting a one-month low on worries about excess valuation and inflation.

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index declined 473.66 points, or 1.36%, to 34,269. The S&P 500 index was down 36.33 points, or 0.87%, at 4,152. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 12.43 points, or 0.09%, to 13,389.

Total ten out of 11 major S&P 500 sectors closed lower, with energy, financials, industrials, real estate, and utilities issues being notable losers, while materials sector eked out 0.35% gains.

The weakness on Wall Street partly reflected fears that raw material price spikes, shortages and inflation. Prices are rising all over the place as commodities, shipping costs and more related categories become more expensive. The price jumps affect broader measures of inflation, which in turn could force the Federal Reserve to change its monetary policy stance sooner than expected.

Adding to the inflation concerns, the Labor Department released a report showing the number of job openings reached a series high of 8.1 million on the last business day of March. The data led to worries that employers will have to raise wages to entice workers, which could carry over into higher inflation.

The central bank's interest rates are ultra-low and it buys billions of dollars worth of assets every month presently. But eventually that will change, and a prolonged increase in inflation could bring about that shift.

Among Indian ADR, HDFC Bank fell 0.43% to $69.20, ICICI Bank fell 0.6% to $16.57, WNS Holdings fell 0.31% to $69.98, and INFOSYS fell 0.93% to $18.19. Wipro fell 0.66% to $7.55, Dr Reddys Labs fell 0.6% to $71.77, and Vedanta fell 1.81% to $15.69. Tata Motors added 1.43% to $21.35.

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