Asia Markets Down, Europe Mixed; Crude Hovers Around $75 - Global Markets Today While US Slept

On Monday, July 29th, U.S. stock markets closed mixed; the S&P 500 closed slightly higher after a volatile Monday as investors awaited major tech earnings, a Fed rate decision, and key labor data.

In economic news, the Dallas Fed Manufacturing index declined to -17.5 in July, compared to -15.1 in the prior month.

The S&P 500 saw gains led by the consumer discretionary, communication services, and real estate sectors, while energy and information technology stocks ended lower.

The consumer discretionary sector was the biggest boost to the S&P 500, mainly due to Tesla’s stock rally after Morgan Stanley added it to its “top pick” U.S. autos list.

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 Tuesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed slightly lower at 0.01%, ending the session at 38,512.00, led by losses in the Pharmaceutical Industry, Warehousing, and Fishery sectors.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.46%, ending the day at 7,953.20, led by losses in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Resources sectors.
• India’s Nifty 50 rose 0.01% to 24,837.95, and Nifty 500 was up 0.15%, closing at 23,430.15.
• China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.43%, ending the session at 2,879.30, and the Shenzhen CSI declined 0.63%, closing at 3,369.38.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended the session lower by 1.37% at 17,002.91.

Eurozone at 06:00 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 index gained 0.55%.
• Germany’s DAX rose 0.33%.
• France’s CAC was up 0.44%.
• U.K.’s FTSE 100 traded lower by 0.27%.

Commodities at 06:00 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.03% at $75.81/bbl, and Brent was down 0.03% at $79.02 bbl.
• Oil steadied near early June lows on Tuesday, balancing worries about Chinese demand with government policy pledges and expected lower U.S. inventories. Chinese manufacturing likely shrank for a third month, impacting commodity prices.
• Natural Gas gained 1.05% to $2.057.
• Gold was trading higher by 0.37% at $2,434.40, Silver rose 0.42% to $27.983, and Copper fell 0.74% to $4.0548.

US Futures at 06:00 AM ET

Dow futures were up 0.12%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.11%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.08%.

Forex at 06:00 AM ET

The U.S. dollar index declined 0.01% to 104.56, the USD/JPY rose 0.51% to 154.80, and the USD/AUD rose 0.04% to 1.5278.

Photo by Pavel Bobrovskiy via Shutterstock