Upbeat economic reports helped US Market to snap its two day losing streak and indices registered good gains today, Wednesday, 05 December, 2007. Chances of another interest rate cut by Federal Reserve in its forthcoming meeting on 11 December also kept an overall bullish sentiment in the market. Nine out of ten economic sectors posted gains, the only exception being Consumer Discretionary. Technology sector led the rally today.

The Dow Jones industrial Average ended the day with a gain of 196.23 points at 13,444.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index, finished higher by 46.53 points at 2,666.36. S&P; 500 finished higher by 22.22 points at 1,485.

Twenty-nine out of thirty Dow stocks ended in green today. Intel, AIG, and IBM led the group of Dow winners. Mc Donalds was the only Dow component to end lower today.

The most important economic report for the day that garnered attention was the ADP employment estimate. The reading showed that November private payrolls increased by a very strong 189,000, more than triple the consensus expectation. The report also lifted the bar for the expected nonfarm payroll figure that is expected to be disclosed on Friday.

In addition to the above, third quarter productivity was revised upward to a 6.3% annual rate from a previously reported 4.9%. Also, November factory orders which comprises the already released durables orders and nondurables orders, was up 0.5%.

Intel leads the way in technology sector

The technology sector was led by Intel today. The company got an upgrade from one of the security firms. Shares of Intel soared by almost 3.5% as the firm was bullish on a robust personal computer market in 2008.

All Indian ADRs closed in the green today. MTNL was the foremost winner gaining more than 6%. It was followed by HDFC Bank, Tata Motors and VSNL each gaining more than 4%.

Crude prices rose today earlier in the day but then gave up all its gains and closed lower for the day after the Energy Department was out with the weekly inventory report. Crude rose earlier in the day when the OPEC members decided that they will not increase production for the time being. Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for January delivery closed at $87.49/barrel (lower by $0.83/barrel or 0.9%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Earlier, crude rose to above $90 after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries opted to keep production unchanged at a Wednesday meeting in Abu Dhabi. OPEC will meet again on 1Feb, 2008 in Vienna to review today's decision. Iran, Venezuela, Qatar and other members opposed a proposal for a 500,000 barrel a day increase.

As per todays weekly inventory report by the Energy Department, U.S. crude inventories fell by 8 million barrels to 305.2 million barrels in the week ending 30 November. EIA also reported U.S. gasoline supplies rose by 4 million to 200.6 million barrels in the latest week, the highest in more than three months, and distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel, grew by 1.4 million barrels to 132.3 million barrels. This increase in fuel supplies helped crude give up its earlier gains for the day.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange topped 1.4 billion shares, with advancing stocks ahead of those declining by a count of 3 to 1, while volume on the Nasdaq hit 2.2 billion, and advancing stocks topped decliners nearly 2 to 1.

Tomorrow, investors will focus on The Bank of England and the European Central Bank as they are supposed to announce their latest monetary policy decisions tomorrow morning.

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