Global Markets Today While US Was Sleeping

On Tuesday, July 18, Wall Street ended the session in the green, boosted by solid bank earnings, with the technology sector being the best performer.

Retail sales experienced a 0.2% month-over-month increase in June, missing the 0.5% rise forecasted and following an upwardly revised 0.5% increase in May.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Tuesday’s session 1.06% higher at 34,951.93; the S&P 500 rose 0.71% to 4,554.98; and the Nasdaq Composite closed up by 0.76% at 14,353.64.

Asian Markets Today

• Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed Wednesday’s session 1.24% higher at 32,896.03. Gains were led by marine transportation stocks, securities house and transportation equipment shares.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.55%, ending the session at 7,323.70, with Energy, Financials and A-RIETS demonstrating growth, and Materials being the worst-performing sector.
• Shanghai Composite closed the session at 3,198.84, up 0.03%; Shenzhen CSI 300 closed 0.11% lower at 3,850.87, pressured by concerns over weak economic growth in China.
• Hang Seng index in Hong Kong closed lower by 0.51% at 18,919.00.

Eurozone at 05:00 AM ET

• The Pan-European STOXX 600 index is up 0.37%. The DAX index in Germany traded 0.20% higher, and the CAC 40 in France was up 0.61%.
• The U.K.’s FTSE 100 traded higher by 1.56%, reflecting good news on inflation data. Inflation fell to 7.9% (YoY) in June, against expectations of 8.2%.

Commodities at 05:00 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.56% at $76.08/bbl, and Brent Oil was up by 0.80% at $80.27/bbl.       
• Natural Gas was trading lower by 0.42% at $2.618.
• Gold was trading higher by 0.03% at $1,981.35, Silver was up 0.04% to $25.265, and Copper was down 0.55% at $3.808.

US Futures at 05:00 AM ET

• Dow futures are up 0.20%, S&P 500 futures are up 0.07%, and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.08%.

US Dollar Index at 05:00 AM ET

• The U.S. Dollar Index rose 0.22% to 100.14.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons