Asia Down, Europe Gains; Crude Oil Steady As Investors Eye Middle East Developments - Global Markets Today While Us Slept

On Wednesday, October 16th, U.S. markets closed higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting a record high, closing above 43,000 points. Gains in small-caps and financial stocks, led by strong earnings from Morgan Stanley, offset declines in mega-cap tech shares. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also rose.

According to economic data, U.S. export prices declined by 0.7% month-over-month, surpassing market expectations of a drop of 0.4%, and import prices fell by 0.4% compared to the previous month.

Most sectors on the S&P 500 ended higher, with utilities, financials, and real estate stocks leading the gains, while communication services and consumer staples stocks declined.       

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.79% and closed at 43,077.70. The S&P 500 ended the day higher by 0.47% at 5,842.47, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.28%, finishing the session at 18,367.08.

Asia Markets Today

• On Thursday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed lower by 0.65% at 38,945.50, led by losses in the Precision Instruments, Electrical/Machinery, and Machinery sectors.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.86% and ended the day at 8,355.90, led by gains in the Gold, Industrials and Financials sectors.
• India’s Nifty 50 traded lower by 0.88% at 24,750.75, and the Nifty 500 was down 1.25% at 23,376.55.
• China’s Shanghai Composite fell 1.05% to close at 3,169.38, while the Shenzhen CSI 300 declined 1.13%, finishing the day at 3,788.22.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 1.02% and closed the session at 20,079.10.

Eurozone at 06.00 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 index was up 0.73%.
• Germany’s DAX gained 0.63%.
• France’s CAC rose 1.08%.
• U.K.’s FTSE 100 index traded higher by 0.36%.

Commodities at 06.00 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.48% at $70.74/bbl, and Brent was up 0.49% at $74.57/bbl.
• Oil prices remained steady as investors awaited developments in the Middle East, U.S. oil inventory data, and China’s stimulus plans. Uncertainty over potential conflict-related supply disruptions continues.
• Natural Gas was down 0.21% at $2.362.
• Gold was trading up 0.15% at $2,695.60, Silver slid 0.60% to $31.788, and Copper declined 1.33% to $4.3090.

U.S. Futures at 06.00 AM ET

Dow futures were up 0.09%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.41%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.69%.

Forex at 06.00 AM ET

The U.S. dollar index slid 0.03% to 103.56, the USD/JPY was down 0.02% to 149.59, and the USD/AUD fell 0.39% to 1.4943.

Photo by Pavel Bobrovskiy via Shutterstock