Asian Markets Close Lower, Europe Up, While Crude Oil And Gold Fall - Global Market Overview While The US Slept

On Friday, February 2nd, U.S. stock markets closed higher, driven by robust earnings and a strong January jobs report that bolstered economic confidence.

In economic data, January’s non-farm payrolls surged by 353,000, surpassing December’s revised 333,000 and expectations of 180,000. Unemployment held at 3.7%, beating forecasts of 3.8%, while average hourly earnings grew by 0.6%, exceeding the prior 0.4% and the expected 0.3%.

Among the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, six recorded gains, with communication services topping the list, closely followed by consumer discretionary.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.35% and closed at 38,654.42, the S&P 500 climbed 1.07% to 4,958.61, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.74%, ending the session at 15,628.95.

Asian Markets Today

• On Monday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed the session higher by 0.63% at 36,354.16, 
• Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.95% and closed at 7,625.90, 
• India’s Nifty 50 closed lower by 0.38% at 21,771.70, and the Nifty 500 fell 0.29% to 19,853.50. 
• China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 1.02% to 2,702.19, while the Shenzhen CSI 300 gained 0.65%, closing at 3,200.42.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.15%, concluding the day at 15,510.01.

Eurozone at 06:15 AM ET

• The European STOXX 600 index was up 0.28%.
• Germany’s DAX gained 0.25%.
• France’s CAC rose 0.07%.
• U.K’s FTSE 100 traded higher by 0.40%.

Commodities at 06:15 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading lower by 0.73% at $71.74/bbl, and Brent was down 0.56% at $76.91/bbl.
• Natural Gas gained 0.67% to $2.093.
• Gold was trading lower by 0.57% at $2,042.00, Silver declined 1.04% to $22.558, while Copper fell 0.53% to $3.8013.

US Futures at 06:15 AM ET       

Dow futures were down 0.23%, S&P 500 futures slid 0.18%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures fell 0.10%.

Forex at 06:15 AM ET

The U.S. Dollar Index was up 0.32% to 104.26, USD/JPY gained 0.01% to 148.38, and AUD/USD rose 0.12% to 1.5378.

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