Japan Index Falls While Asia And Europe Markets Rise, And Gold Exceeds $2,220 - Global Markets Today While US Slept

On Wednesday, March 27th, U.S. stock markets closed higher, with the Dow surging and the S&P 500 reaching a record high, led by Merck MRK, while investors awaited inflation data and Fed insights on interest.

Related: Merck Stock Soars On FDA Approval for Winrevair: Technical Analysis And Market Outlook

In economic data, U.S. mortgage applications fell 0.7% for the week ending March 22, 2024, while crude oil stocks rose by 3.165 million barrels, defying expectations of a 1.275 million drop.

All 11 major sectors of the S&P showed gains, with the rate-sensitive utilities and real estate sectors leading the charge.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.22% to close at 39,760.08. The S&P 500 was up 0.86%, ending the day at 5,248.49, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.51%, finishing the session at 16,399.52.

Asian Markets Today

• On Thursday, Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed the session lower by 1.57% at 40,151.00, led by losses in the Shipbuilding, Power and Fishery sectors.
• In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.99% and closed at 7,896.90, led by gains in the Gold, Materials and Metals & Mining sectors.
• India's Nifty 50 closed higher by 0.92% at 22,326.90, and the Nifty 500 rose 0.83% to 20,255.15.
• China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.59% to 3,010.66, and the Shenzhen CSI 300 was up 0.52%, closing at 3,520.96.
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.91%, concluding the day at 16,541.42.

Eurozone at 06:30 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 index was up 0.43%.
• Germany’s DAX gained 0.19%.
• France’s CAC rose 0.56%.
• U.K’s FTSE 100 index traded higher by 0.37%.

Commodities at 06:30 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.91% at $82.10/bbl, and Brent was up 0.74% at $86.04/bbl.
• Natural Gas was down 1.28% to $1.696.
• Gold was trading higher by 0.67% at $2,227.80, Silver rose 0.15% to $24.793, while Copper was up 0.05% at $4.0012.

US Futures at 06:30 AM ET       

Dow futures were down 0.03%, S&P 500 futures declined 0.05%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures slid 0.06%.

Forex at 06:30 AM ET

The U.S. dollar index gained 0.27% to 104.63, the USD/JPY rose 0.06% to 151.41, and the USD/AUD climbed 0.62% to 1.5398.

Photo by Pavel Bobrovskiy via Shutterstock