US markets fall for fourth day in a row, S&P 500 down 0.38%; GIFT Nifty in red

The US markets continued to fall for a fourth consecutive day on April 17, despite strong corporate earnings. At 9:15 pm IST, the S&P 500 fell 0.38 percent to 5,032.03 and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.67 percent to 15,770.01. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also declined 0.29 percent to 37,688.48.

On Tuesday, the US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced that the Fed needs to see more progress on the inflation front before the US central bank is ready to begin cutting down rates. This announcement signalled delays in rate cuts.

The GIFT Nifty also traded in red, down 0.20 percent at 22,109.50.
European markets recovered from previous day’s losses and edged higher. The FTSE was up 0.35 percent at 7,847.99 and the CAC was up 0.62 percent at 7,981.51. The DAX also traded flat-to-positive at 17,770.02.

Earlier during the day, the Asian markets continued to fall owing to weak global cues. The Nikkei fell below the 38,000 mark, down 1.32 percent at 37,961.80. However, the Hang Seng traded flat-to-positive at 16,251.84.

The Indian indices remained closed on April 17 on account of ‘Shri Ram Navmi’.

Crude tumbled on Wednesday on higher US commercial inventories. The WTI Crude was down 1.57 percent at 84.02 and Brent declined 1.63 percent to 88.55.