Asia Advances, Europe Mixed; Crude Slips To $77 And Gold Surges Above $2,430 - Global Markets Today While US Slept

On Friday, July 26th, U.S. stock markets closed higher as investors returned to tech megacaps, and inflation data fueled hopes for Fed rate cuts. Despite this, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended the week lower for the second consecutive week. The Dow Jones closed positively, aided by 3M’s 23% surge after raising its annual profit forecast.

In economic data, the headline Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index fell to 2.5% year-on-year in June, as expected, while the core component stayed at 2.6% instead of dropping to 2.5%.

S&P 500 sectors ended positively, with industrials, materials, and real estate stocks showing the highest gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.64% and closed at 40,589.34. The S&P 500 gained 1.11%, ending the day at 5,459.10, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.03%, finishing the session at 17,357.88.

Asian Markets Today

• On Monday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed higher by 2.29%, ending the session at 38,516.00, led by gains in the Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic, Textile, and Services sectors.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.86%, ending the day at 7,989.60, led by gains in the IT, Telecoms Services, and A-REITs sectors.
• India’s Nifty 50 rose 0.03% to 24,842.45, and Nifty 500 was up 0.47%, closing at 23,401.05.
• China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.03%, ending the session at 2,891.85, and the Shenzhen CSI declined 0.54%, closing at 3,390.74.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended the session higher by 1.28% at 17,238.34.

Eurozone at 06:00 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 index gained 0.12%.
• Germany’s DAX rose 0.36%.
• France’s CAC was down 0.06%.
• U.K.’s FTSE 100 traded higher by 0.97%.

Commodities at 06:00 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.08% at $77.22/bbl, and Brent was up 0.15% at $80.39 bbl.
• Oil prices rose on Monday, recovering some of last week’s losses. This was driven by fears of escalating Middle East conflict following a rocket strike in the Golan Heights. Despite this, concerns about weakening Chinese demand continue to pressure crude prices.
• Natural Gas gained 0.05% to $2.052.
• Gold was trading higher by 0.44% at $2,438.60, Silver rose 0.86% to $28.258, and Copper fell 0.51% to $4.1025.

US Futures at 06:00 AM ET

Dow futures were up 0.32%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.35%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.50%.

Forex at 06:00 AM ET

The U.S. dollar index gained 0.12% to 104.44, the USD/JPY was up 0.04% to 153.77, and the USD/AUD slid 0.01% to 1.5266.

Photo by Pavel Bobrovskiy via Shutterstock