Asia Closes Higher, Europe Trading Lower Following US Futures - Global Markets Today While US Was Sleeping

On Tuesday, August 29, U.S. markets closed higher; the S&P 500 saw its best day since June 2, and the Nasdaq had its strongest session since July 28, both ending over two-week highs.

The notable increases followed the release of the Labor Department's JOLTS report for July, indicating a decrease in job openings to 8.827 million.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 0.85% at 34,852.67on Tuesday; the S&P 500 rose 1.45%, closing at 4,497.63; and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.74%, ending the session at 13,943.76.

Asian Markets Today 

• Japan's Nikkei 225 closed Wednesday's session higher by 0.38% at 32,352.50, led by gains in the Power, Retail and Real Estate sectors.
• Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 1.21%, ending the session at 7,297.70, led by gains in the Industrials, Gold, and Healthcare sectors. Nine of ASX's eleven sectors ended positively, with basic materials at the forefront, rising by 1.8%
• China's Shanghai Composite closed the session at 3,137.14, up 0.04%.
• Shenzhen CSI 300 fell 0.04% to close at 3,788.51.
• Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.07%, closing at 18,483.50.

Eurozone at 05:45 AM ET

• The European STOXX 600 index dropped by 0.44. 
• Germany's DAX index saw a 0.62% decline, while France's CAC 40 fell by 0.69%.
• The U.K.'s FTSE 100 traded higher by 0.04%, driven by insurance companies, particularly Prudential, which saw an increase in its half-year profit.

Commodities at 05:45 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.70% at $81.73/bbl, and Brent was up 0.49% to $84.33/bbl.
• Natural Gas was up 0.38% to $2.672.
• Gold was trading higher by 0.04% at $1,965.85, Silver was down 0.62% to $24.635, and Copper fell 0.59% to $3.8163.

US Futures at 05:45 AM ET

Dow futures were down 0.06%, S&P 500 futures slid 0.21%, and Nasdaq 100 futures was down 0.32%.

Forex at 05:45 AM ET

The U.S. Dollar Index was down 0.51% to 103.48. USD/JPY rose 0.30% to 146.31, while USD/AUD was up 0.21% at 1.5465.