Asia And Europe Markets Decline, Crude Oil At Six-Week Low - Global Markets Today While US Slept

On Tuesday, July 23rd, U.S. stock markets closed in the red, losing modest gains as investors shifted their focus to earnings from Alphabet GOOG and Tesla TSLA. Both companies reported positive Q2 revenue, with Tesla’s increase driven by higher vehicle deliveries and Alphabet’s by increasing ad sales and cloud demand.

According to economic data, the U.S. Fifth District’s composite manufacturing index fell to -17 in July, down from -10 in June. Additionally, existing home sales decreased by 5.4% to an annualized rate of 3.89 million units in June.

Eight major S&P sectors closed in the red, with the energy index being the worst performer as U.S. crude prices reached a six-week low.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.14% and closed at 40,358.09. The S&P 500 declined 0.16%, ending the day at 5,555.74, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.06%, finishing the session at 17,997.35.

Asian Markets Today

• On Wednesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed lower by 1.27%, ending the session at 39,126.00, led by losses in the Precision Instruments, Shipbuilding, and Electrical/Machinery sectors.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slid 0.09%, ending the day at 7,963.70, led by losses in the A-REITs, Energy, and Consumer Staples sectors.  
• India’s Nifty 50 fell 0.16% to 24,438.95, while the Nifty 500 was up 0.33%, closing at 22,940.60.
• China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.46%, ending the session at 2,901.95, and the Shenzhen CSI slid 0.63%, closing at 3,418.17.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended the session lower by 0.91% at 17,311.05.

Eurozone at 06:00 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 index declined 0.85%.
• Germany’s DAX slid 0.68%.
• France’s CAC was down 1.09%.
• U.K.’s FTSE 100 traded lower by 0.26%.

Commodities at 06:00 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.84% at $77.61/bbl, and Brent was up 0.78% at $81.64 bbl.
• Oil prices hit a six-week low due to weak summer fuel demand and concerns over China’s economic slowdown. Prices slightly rebounded as U.S. crude inventories fell and Canadian wildfires increased supply risks.
• Natural Gas declined 1.80% to $2.184.
• Gold was trading higher by 0.32% at $2,414.90, Silver rose 0.40% to $29.448, and Copper rose 0.08% to $4.1647.

US Futures at 06:00 AM ET

Dow futures were down 0.45%, S&P 500 futures declined 0.73%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures fell 1.04%.

Forex at 06:00 AM ET

The U.S. dollar index declined 0.01% to 104.44, the USD/JPY was down 0.54% to 154.72, and the USD/AUD gained 0.29% to 1.5160.

Photo by Pavel Bobrovskiy via Shutterstock