Asia Markets Mixed, Europe Up, While Gold Hits Record High Again - Global Markets Today While US Slept

On Monday, March 25th, U.S. stock markets ended the day in negative territory, with all three major U.S. stock indexes recording declines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw the largest percentage drop among them.

In economic data, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index increased to 0.05 in February from -0.54. U.S. new home sales dropped by 0.3% to an annualized rate of 662,000 in February, below market expectations of 675,000.

Most S&P 500 sectors ended lower, with industrial, real estate and tech stocks leading the losses, and energy and utility sectors defied the trend, closing higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.41% to close at 39,313.64. The S&P 500 was down 0.31%, ending the day at 5,218.19, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.27%, finishing the session at 16,384.47.

 Asian Markets Today

• On Tuesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed the session higher by 0.12% at 40,494.50, led by gains in the Paper & Pulp, Shipbuilding, and Railway & Bus sectors.
• In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.41% and closed at 7,780.20, led by losses in the IT, Telecoms Services and Metals & Mining sectors.
• India’s Nifty 50 closed lower by 0.42% at 22,004.70, and the Nifty 500 rose 0.05% to 20,005.25.
• China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.17% to 3,031.48, and the Shenzhen CSI 300 was up 0.51%, closing at 3,543.75.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.88%, concluding the day at 16,618.32.

Eurozone at 06:45 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 index was up 0.33%.
• Germany’s DAX gained 0.50%.
• France’s CAC rose 0.14%.
• U.K.’s FTSE 100 traded flat.

Commodities at 06:45 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.04% at $81.98/bbl, and Brent was up 0.01% at $86.07/bbl.
• Natural Gas was up 2.18% to $1.828.
• Gold was trading higher by 1.03% at $2,220.90, Silver slid 0.11% to $24.858, and Copper dropped 0.02% to $4.0147.

US Futures at 06:45 AM ET       

Dow futures were up 0.25%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.40%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures gained 0.53%.

Forex at 06:45 AM ET

The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.40% to 104.05, USD/JPY was down 0.05% to 151.32 and USD/AUD slid 0.26% to 1.5253.

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