Asia Markets Rise, Europe Mixed While Gold Slips Below $2,000 - Global Markets Today While Us Was Sleeping

On Tuesday, October 31st, U.S. stock markets closed on a positive note as investors eagerly awaited the Federal Reserve’s forthcoming monetary policy update.

All 11 S&P 500 sectors rose, with real estate leading the way, up 2%, while communication services saw the smallest gain at 0.2%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.38% to 33,052.87, the S&P 500 was up 0.56% to 4,193.80, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.48% and ended the session at 12,851.24.

Wall Street’s main indices marked their third straight monthly decline. The S&P 500 and Dow fell 2.2% and 1.4% for the month, respectively, their longest losing streak since early 2020. The Nasdaq, down 2.8% in October, hadn’t seen a three-month drop since June 2022.

Asian Markets Today

• Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 2.36% higher at 31,601.65 on Wednesday, led by gains in the Gas & Water, Electrical/Machinery and Marine Transport sectors.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.85%, closing the session at 6,838.30, let by gains in the A-REITs, Healthcare and Energy sectors.
• China’s Shanghai Composite increased 0.14% to close the session at 3,023.08, while the Shenzhen CSI 300 was down 0.04%, closing at 3,571.03.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.09% and closed at 17,084.00.

Eurozone at 06:15 AM ET

• The European STOXX 600 index was up 0.03%.
• Germany’s DAX was up 0.04%.
• France’s CAC declined by 0.01%.
• The UK’s FTSE 100 traded lower by 0.11%.

Commodities at 06:15 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 1.41% at $82.17/bbl, and Brent was up by 1.32% at $86.11/bbl.
• Natural Gas declined 1.59% to $3.518.
• Gold was trading lower by 0.13% at $1991.17, Silver declined 0.83% to $22.762, and Copper was up 0.01% to $3.6490.

US Futures at 06:15 AM ET

Dow futures were down 0.43%, S&P 500 futures slid 0.46%, while Nasdaq 100 Futures declined by 0.50%.

Forex at 06:15 AM ET

The U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.20% to 106.88. USD/JPY was down 0.30% to 151.22, and AUD/USD was gained 0.03% to 1.5784.