Asia Ex-Japan And European Markets Advance; Gold Gains - Global Markets Today While US Slept

On Thursday, July 25th, U.S. stock markets closed mixed, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite falling, unable to recover from Wednesday’s tech sell-off as investors evaluated megacap stocks’ outlook, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose, buoyed by stronger-than-expected U.S. GDP data.

The U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 10,000 to 235,000 for the week ending July 20, beating estimates of 238,000. The economy grew by 2.8% in Q2, up from 1.4% in the previous quarter, exceeding expectations of 2%.

The S&P 500’s sectors closed mostly negative, with information technology, communication services, and utilities leading the losses. However, energy and industrial stocks rose.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.20% and closed at 39,935.07. The S&P 500 declined 0.51%, ending the day at 5,399.22, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.93%, finishing the session at 17,181.72.

Asian Markets Today

• On Friday, Japan's Nikkei 225 closed lower by 0.64%, ending the session at 37,654.00, led by losses in the Shipbuilding, Communication, and Electrical/Machinery sectors.
• Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.76%, ending the day at 7,921.30, led by gains in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Resources sectors.
• India's Nifty 50 rose 1.85% to 24,855.55, and the Nifty 500 was up 1.67%, closing at 23,299.85.
• China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.14%, ending the session at 2,890.90, and the Shenzhen CSI gained 0.29%, closing at 3,409.29.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended the session higher by 0.10% at 17,021.31.

Eurozone at 06:00 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 index gained 0.79%.
• Germany's DAX rose 0.21%.
• France's CAC was up 0.87%.
• U.K.'s FTSE 100 traded higher by 0.68%.

Commodities at 06:00 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading lower by 0.54% at $77.88/bbl, and Brent was down 0.49% at $81.96 bbl.
• Oil prices were nearly unchanged on Friday but headed for a third weekly decline due to weak Chinese demand and expectations of a Gaza ceasefire.
• Natural Gas declined 0.14% to $2.069.
• Gold was trading higher by 0.79% at $2,372.10, Silver fell 0.14% to $27.933, and Copper rose 0.18% to $4.1333.

US Futures at 06:00 AM ET

Dow futures were up 0.49%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.76%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 1.07%.

Forex at 06:00 AM ET

The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.02% to 104.34, USD/JPY was up 0.21% at 154.26, and USD/AUD slid 0.31% to 1.5249.

Photo by Pavel Bobrovskiy via Shutterstock