US stocks extend their four day winning streak

Indian ADRs end mostly higher led by banking ADRs

U.S. stocks extended their four-day winning streak, ending Tuesday, 11 February 2014 with solid gains as Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen pledged to keep interest rates low and to continue to taper the pace of bond purchases if the economy keeps improving. Heading into the session, many participants were anxious to hear Janet Yellen's first testimony as the new Fed Chair, but the lengthy appearance before the House Financial Services Committee was largely uneventful.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 192.98 points, or 1.2%, at 15,994.77 after briefly topping 16,000. The Nasdaq Composite ended the day 42.87 points, or 1%, higher at 4,191.04. The S&P 500 index closed up 19.91 points, or 1.1% at 1,819.75.

All ten sectors took part in today's advance with energy and materials ending in the lead. The energy sector drew strength from top components like Chevron.

The highlight during U.S. trading hours Tuesday was Yellen's inaugural testimony on monetary policy to the Congress. Traders and investors examined closely her morning remarks and prepared text. Yellen signaled that the central bank will remain on the loose monetary-policy path laid out by Ben Bernanke. Yellen said the Fed would pause from its path to slowly exit its bond-buying program if there was a significant change in the economic outlook.

Like her predecessor, Ms. Yellen indicated the Fed plans to remain data dependent in its decision making and that measured tapering will continue unless economic data takes a turn for the worse. When asked about the impact of the disappointing jobs reports for December and January on the Fed's reaction function, Ms. Yellen said it would be premature to alter policy based on a limited sample size.

Today's economic data was limited to December wholesale inventories, which increased 0.3% after increasing 0.5% in November. The consensus expected an increase of 0.6%. The lower-than-expected increase in wholesale inventories will result in a negative revision to fourth quarter GDP growth.

AMong major stocks under focus, Sprint shares rose 2.7% after the company reported a narrower loss for the fourth quarter. CVS Caremark Corp. shares rose 2.7% after the drugstore chain posted a rise in profit and adjusted earnings beat estimates.

Bullion prices ended higher on Tuesday, 11 February 2014 at Comex. Gold prices ended the U.S. day session with good gains and hit a more-than-three-month high on Tuesday. The market was boosted by non-threatening comments made by Fed chief Janet Yellen. Gold for April delivery climbed $15.10, or 1.2%, to settle at $1,289.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising as high as $1,294.40. March silver, which briefly traded lower, closed up 4 cents, or 0.2%, at $20.15 an ounce.

Crude Oil futures failed to hold above $100 a barrel on Tuesday, 11 February 2014 at Nymex and marked their first session decline in six as traders readied for the week's updates on U.S. petroleum supplies and mulled monetary-policy comments from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen.

March crude oil fell 12 cents, or 0.1%, to settle at $99.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices, which climbed to as high as $100.49 in Tuesday's electronic trading, had gained a total of around 3.8% in the previous five sessions.

Treasuries ended on their lows with the 10-yr yield up four basis points at 2.72%.

Despite the broad rally, trading volume was below average as less than 700 million shares changed hands at the NYSE.

Indian ADRs ended mostly higher on Tuesday. In the IT space, Infosys rose 1.81% at $58.56 and Wipro was ended flat at $12.85. In the banking space, ICICI Bank gained 2.66% at $33.16 and HDFC Bank jumped 2.48% at $33.42. In the other sectors, Tata Motors was ended flat at 30.62 and Dr Reddy's Laboratories shed 0.49% at $42.94.

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be reported at 7:00 ET while the January Treasury budget will be released at 14:00 ET.

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