US mkts end flat as no major cues from FOMC minutes

By Varinder Bansal, Research Analyst at CNBC-TV18

The US markets ended flat as no major cues from FOMC minutes. Commodities witnessed profit booking on Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 21 points at 11691; the Nasdaq Composite was down 10 points at 2681 and S&P 500 down 2 points at 1270.

Russell 2000 (small-cap) fell 1.6% while the S&P 400 (mid-cap) was down 1.1%.

European markets ended mixed: CAC was up 0.4% while DAX down 0.2%. FTSE rose 1.93% (opened after 2 days).

Asian markets opened almost flat; Kospi was down 0.3%. Nikkei and Straits Times were flat. Taiwan rose 0.2%.

FOMC minutes

Economic recovery hadn't gained enough strength to warrant a change in the Fed's USD 600 billion bond-buying program

Concerned about downside risk, especially as it relates to housing

Global Economic News

US factory orders for November increased 0.7% after declining 0.7% in October; market expected decline of 0.3%

Currencies

Dollar Index rose 0.3% on Tuesday

Dollar was up 67 bps versus Euro at 1.3267

Yen lost 27 bps versus USD at 82.12

Commodities

CRB Commodity Index fell 1.6%

Precious metals shed 3.6% and soft commodities were down 2.7%

March silver shed 5.1% at USD 29.51/ounce

February gold contract was down 3.2% at USD 1378.8/ounce

February crude oil contract was down 2.4% at USD 89.38/barrel, hit its worst levels in nearly 2 weeks during the day

February natural gas was up 0.1% at USD 4.66 per MMBtu

Baltic Dry Index was down 4.5%.

Sugar was down 3.2%.

Data to watch

MBA mortgage applications, Challenger job-cut report, ADP employment report, ISM non-manufacturing index, oil inventories