Asia Falls, Europe Up, Crude Trading Higher - Global Markets Today While US Was Sleeping

Thursday, August 24, the U.S. markets closed in red ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech today.

Economic data indicated that U.S. unemployment benefit claims suggested a robust job market, potentially reinforcing the Fed's hawkish stance on prolonged higher interest rates. The initial jobless claims came in at 230,000 versus 240,000 estimate, while the prior was revised to 240,000.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower by 1.08% at 34,099.42 on Thursday; the S&P 500 was down 1.35% and closed at 4,376.31; and the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.87%, ending the session at 13,463.97.

Asian Markets Today 

• Japan's Nikkei 225 closed Friday's session lower by 2.01% at 31,627.50, led by losses in the Shipbuilding, Trading, Chemical, Petroleum, and plastic sectors.
• Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.93%, ending the session at 7,115.20, led by losses in the IT, Metals & Mining, and Resources sectors.
• China's Shanghai Composite closed the session at 3,064.07, down 0.59%; Shenzhen CSI 300 fell 0.38% to close at 3,709.15.
• Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 1.40%, closing at 17,952.50.
• Asian stocks faced significant declines on Friday, particularly in the technology sector, as markets adopted a cautious approach due to increasing risk aversion. This was in anticipation of further insights into monetary policy from the Jackson Hole Symposium.

Eurozone at 05:30 AM ET

• The Pan-European STOXX 600 index is up 0.29%. The DAX index in Germany traded 0.26% higher.
• France's CAC 40 index rose 0.51%.
• On Friday, European stocks started with a decline but later recovered, boosted by the rise in mining and energy stocks due to robust commodity prices.
• The U.K.'s FTSE 100 traded higher by 0.29%.

Commodities at 05:30 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 1.35% at $80.12/bbl, and Brent was up 1.37% to $84.50/bbl.
• Natural Gas was up 0.71% to $2.537.
• Gold was trading lower by 0.12% at $1,944.85, Silver was up 0.03% to $24.238, and Copper rose 0.78% to $3.800.

US Futures at 05:30 AM ET

Dow futures were up 0.22%, S&P 500 futures were up 0.21%, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.08%.

Forex at 05:30 AM ET

The U.S. Dollar Index was up 0.14% to 104.13. USD/JPY rose 0.12% to 146.05, while USD/AUD was down 0.11% at 1.5566.