Natural Gas Jumps 8%, Dollar Cools, Asia And Europe Markets Mixed - Global Markets Today While US Slept

On Friday, January 3, U.S. markets closed higher as investors anticipated Federal Reserve rate cuts and regulatory easing under the incoming Trump administration. Tech giants Tesla and Nvidia drove gains, though all major indexes recorded weekly declines. Robust economic data tempered expectations for further rate cuts, while optimism grew for the 2025 economic outlook.

According to economic data, the PMI of ISM manufacturing rose by 0.9 points in December, reaching 49.3 and surpassing market expectations of 48.4.

Every sector of the S&P 500 ended in positive territory, with consumer discretionary, information technology, and real estate stocks leading the gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.80% and closed at 42,392.27, the S&P 500 closed higher by 1.26% at 5,942.50, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.77% to finish at 19,621.68.

Asia Markets Today

• On Monday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed lower by 1.65% at 39,237.50, led by losses in the Shipbuilding, Precision Instruments, and Communication sectors.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.08%, ending the session at 8,257.40, led by gains in the A-REITs, IT, and Industrials sectors.
• India’s Nifty 50 closed lower by 1.56% at 23,629.60, and Nifty 500 fell 2.07%, closing at 22,237.45, led by losses in the Power, Public Sector Undertakings, and Metals sectors.
• China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.14% to close at 3,206.92, and the Shenzhen CSI 300 declined 0.16%, finishing the day at 3,768.97.
• Hong Kong Hang Seng closed the session lower by 0.36% at 19,688.29.

Eurozone at 05:30 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 was up 0.68%.
• Germany’s DAX gained 0.35%.
• France’s CAC rose 0.51%.
• U.K.’s FTSE 100 traded lower by 0.09%.

Commodities at 05:30 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.07% at $74.02/bbl, and Brent was up 0.04% at $76.53/bbl.
• Oil prices eased slightly on Monday due to a strong dollar but remained at their highest levels since mid-October. Colder weather and expectations of tighter sanctions on Iranian and Russian oil exports supported prices.
• Natural Gas gained 7.99% to $3.624.
• Gold was trading lower by 0.38% at $2,644.84, Silver was up 0.59% to $30.242, and Copper rose 0.06% to $4.0760.

U.S. Futures at 05:30 AM ET

Dow futures were up 0.05%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.43%, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.72%.

Forex at 05:30 AM ET

• The U.S. Dollar Index was down 0.24% to 108.70, USD/JPY rose 0.41% to 157.89, and USD/AUD slid 0.43% to 1.6023.
• The dollar fell from a two-year high as traders reversed holiday gains ahead of key economic data and Federal Reserve updates.

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