S&P 500 falls 1% after US GDP growth falters, inflation concerns persist; GIFT Nifty down

Global Markets Outlook

The US markets tumbled on April 25 as economic data revealed lower-than-expected GDP growth for the first quarter. US gross domestic product rose merely 1.6 percent as against the Dow Jones forecast of 2.4 percent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis also showed that consumer prices increased 3.4 percent, as compared to the 1.8 percent increase in the previous quarter. This provoked concerns over the Federal Reserve’s rate cut expectations and hinted at persistent inflation in the economy.

At 9:30 pm IST, the S&P 500 fell by nearly a percent at 5,022.56 and the Nasdaq Composite declined 1.46 percent to 15,485.27. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 500 points, pulled down by tech stocks such as Meta & IBM. The index was down 1.41 percent at 37,926.99 while tech stocks fell as much as 13 percent.

The GIFT Nifty also traded negative, down 0.27 percent at 22,579.00.

European markets traded mixed. While the FTSE recovered from previous session’s losses and traded 0.48 percent higher at 8,078.86, the DAX tumbled 1 percent to 17,917.28. CAC was also down by a percent at 8,016.65.

Earlier during the day, the Asian indices also traded mixed. The Nikkei witnessed a strong 2 percent fall to 37,628.48 as investors booked profits. On the other hand, the Hang Seng surged 0.48 percent to 17,284.54 as Chinese investors poured in.

The Indian indices ended positive with the Nifty up 0.75 percent at 22,570.35, hovering close to it’s all time high of 22,775.70. The Sensex ended 0.66 percent higher at 74,339.44.

DIIs net purchased Rs 6,167.56 crores while the FIIs/FPIs continued their week of selling, with net sales for Thursday amounting to Rs 2,823.33 crores.

Crude continued its decline for another day and was down 0.45 percent at $82.44. Brent also fell 0.22 percent to $87.83.