Asia Markets Mixed, Europe Closed, While Gold Hits Fresh Record High - Global Markets Today While US Was Sleeping

On Thursday, March 28th, the U.S. stock markets had a mixed finish, with the S&P 500 achieving its best first quarter in five years as investors evaluated economic data and awaited the next inflation update.

In economic data, U.S. GDP growth for the fourth quarter was revised to 3.4% from 3.2%. Weekly jobless claims dropped to 210,000, below the expected 215,000. Consumer sentiment in March improved to 79.4 from an initial estimate of 76.5.

During the quarter, the top performers among the 11 major sectors were communication services, energy, and technology, while real estate was the only sector to experience a decrease.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.12% to close at 39,807.37. The S&P 500 was up 0.11%, ending the day at 5,254.35, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.12%, finishing the session at 16,379.46.

Asian Markets Today

• On Monday, Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed the session lower by 1.31% at 39,841.00, led by losses in the Rubber, Electrical/Machinery, and Chemical sectors.
• Australia Market is Closed for the Easter holiday. 
• India's Nifty 50 closed higher by 0.92% at 22,326.90, and the Nifty 500 rose 1.17% to 20,492.55.
• China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.61% to 22,462.00, and the Shenzhen CSI 300 was up 1.64%, closing at 3,595.65.
• Hong Kong Market is closed for the Easter holiday. 
• Chinese stocks drove gains across Asia on Monday amid global economic optimism, while Japanese stocks dropped due to concerns over potential currency intervention with the yen near critical levels.

Eurozone closed for the Easter Holiday

Commodities at 06:15 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading lower by 0.26% at $82.96/bbl, and Brent was up 0.32% at $86.72/bbl.
• Natural Gas was down 2.21% to $1.724.
• Gold was trading higher by 1.45% at $2,271.25, Silver rose 1.01% to $25.168, while Copper was up 1.19% at $4.0545.

US Futures at 06:15 AM ET       

Dow futures were up 0.26%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.37%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.55%.

Forex at 06:15 AM ET

The U.S. dollar index gained 0.02% to 104.57, the USD/JPY rose 0.03% to 151.39, and the USD/AUD climbed 0.01% to 1.5341.

Image by Steve Bidmead from Pixabay