Asia Up, Europe Up, Commodities Up - Global Markets Today While US Was Sleeping

On Friday, August 25, the U.S. markets closed higher after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's Jackson Hole Symposium speech, where he indicated a willingness to raise interest rates when necessary.

All key S&P 500 sectors increased, with consumer discretionary, technology, and energy as top gainers.

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average concluded with a 0.73% increase, closing at 34,346.90. The S&P 500 exhibited a rise of 0.67%, ending at 4,405.71. Likewise, the Nasdaq Composite experienced a gain of 0.94%, finishing the session at 13,590.65.

Asian Markets Today 

• Japan's Nikkei 225 closed Monday's session higher by 1.80% at 32,197.50. It surged the most in two months as investors rebounded from previous losses. Yet, tourism-linked stocks dropped due to concerns over China's seafood ban.
• Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.63%, ending the session at 7,159.80. Encouraging retail figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Monday led to a 1.36% rise in consumer discretionary stocks, making them prominent gainers in the market.
• China's Shanghai Composite closed the session at 3,098.64, up 1.13%, Shenzhen CSI 300 rose 1.17% to close at 3,752.62.
• Chinese stocks rose as the government lowered trading taxes and announced additional measures to revive its struggling capital markets.
• The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.94%, closing at 18,120.50.

Eurozone at 05:30 AM ET

• The Pan-European STOXX 600 index is up 0.54%. 
• The DAX index in Germany traded 0.42% higher, and the CAC 40 in France rose 0.62%.
• The U.K.'s FTSE 100 traded higher by 0.07%.

Commodities at 05:30 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.56% at $80.28/bbl, and Brent was up 0.36% to $84.25/bbl.
• Natural Gas was up 2.90% to $2.734.
• Gold was trading higher by 0.07% at $1,941.15, Silver was down 0.13% to $24.303, and Copper rose 0.05% to $3.786.

US Futures at 05:30 AM ET

Dow futures were up 0.21%, S&P 500 futures were up 0.16%, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.23%.

Forex at 05:30 AM ET

The U.S. Dollar Index was up 0.08% to 104.16. USD/JPY rose 0.11% to 146.56, while USD/AUD was down 0.02% at 1.5607.