China's Dip Weighs Asia Markets Lower, Europe Rises, Gold Tops $2,050 - Global Markets Today While US Was Sleeping

On Monday, January 29th, U.S. stock markets closed higher, fueled by investor focus on key earnings reports, economic data, and the upcoming Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting.

In economic data, the General Business Activity Index for manufacturing in Texas, as reported by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, experienced a decline of 17 points, dropping to a -27.4 score in January.

Most sectors of the S&P 500 index experienced an increase, with consumer discretionary leading the way, closely followed by information technology, with Energy being the only declining sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.59% and closed at 38,333.45, the S&P 500 gained 0.76% to 4,927.93, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.12%, ending the session at 15,628.04.

Asian Markets Today

• On Tuesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed the session higher by 0.05% at 36,065.86, led by gains in the Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic, Mining and Automobiles & Parts sectors.
• Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.29% and closed at 7,600.20, led by gains in the IT, Gold and A-REITs sectors.
• India’s Nifty 50 closed lower by 0.99% at 21,522.10, and the Nifty 500 declined 0.70% to 19,574.20. 
• China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 1.83% to 2,830.53, while the Shenzhen CSI 300 was down 1.78%, closing at 3,245.04.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 2.45%, concluding the day at 15,683.00.
• Stock markets in China and Hong Kong hit multi-year lows amid dwindling economic confidence, foreign capital flight, and signs of slowing growth and real estate trouble.

Eurozone at 06:45 AM ET

• The European STOXX 600 index was up 0.58%.
• Germany’s DAX gained 0.25%.
• France’s CAC rose 0.54%.
• The U.K.’s FTSE 100 traded higher by 0.58%.

Commodities at 06:45 AM ET

Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.21% at $76.92/bbl, and Brent was up 0.06% at $81.89/bbl.

Natural Gas gained 0.44% to $2.063.

Gold was trading higher by 0.39% at $2,052.55, Silver declined 0.29% to $23.180, while Copper fell 0.02% to $3.8788.

US Futures at 06:45 AM ET       

Dow futures were down 0.16%, S&P 500 futures slid 0.13%, while Nasdaq 100 Futures fell 0.10%.

Forex at 06:45 AM ET

The U.S. Dollar Index was down 0.17% to 103.44, USD/JPY slid 0.09% to 147.36, and AUD/USD rose 0.21% to 1.5159.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash