Asia Markets Dip While Europe Advances, Crude Cools 1% - Global Markets Today While US Slept

On Friday, July 5th, the U.S. stock markets closed higher, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 hitting record highs, driven by weak labor market data that boosted hopes for September rate cuts, leading to significant gains in stocks like Microsoft and Meta Platforms.

According to economic data, nonfarm payrolls rose by 206,000 last month, exceeding expectations of 189,000, while the unemployment rate increased from 4% to 4.1%. Average hourly earnings increased by 0.3% month-on-month, down from May’s 0.4%.

The majority of sectors on the S&P 500 closed higher on Friday, led by communication services, consumer staples, and consumer discretionary stocks, while energy and industrial stocks closed lower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.17% and closed at 39,375.87. The S&P 500 gained 0.54%, ending the day at 5,567.19, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.90%, finishing the session at 18,351.34.

Asian Markets Today

• On Monday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 0.06%, ending the session at 40,867.50, led by losses in the Automobiles & Parts, Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic and Steel sectors.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed lower at 0.76%, ending the day at 7,763.20, led by losses in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Resources sectors.
• India’s Nifty 50 closed slightly lower by 0.01% at 24,320.55, and the Nifty 500 slid 0.07% to 22,971.15.
• China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.93%, ending the session at 2,922.45, and the Shenzhen CSI fell 0.85%, closing at 3,401.76.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended the session lower by 1.55% at 17,524.06.
• Most Asian stocks fell on Monday, led by Chinese markets amid trade war concerns with the West and anticipation of interest rate signals. Due to EU tariffs on electric vehicles, Chinese indexes dropped, and middling economic data from Japan and Australia also weighed on regional stocks.

Eurozone at 06:00 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 index gained 0.50%.
• Germany’s DAX rose 0.51%.
• France’s CAC was up 0.37%.
• U.K.’s FTSE 100 traded higher by 0.25%.

Commodities at 06:00 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading lower by 1.13% at $82.22/bbl, and Brent was down 0.95% at $85.72 bbl.
• Natural Gas gained 0.13% to $2.322.
• Gold was trading lower by 0.72% at $2,380.60, Silver fell 1.27% to $31.288, and Copper slid 0.26% to $4.6390.

US Futures at 06:00 AM ET

Dow futures were up 0.03%, S&P 500 futures declined 0.05%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures fell 0.05%.

Forex at 06:00 AM ET

The U.S. dollar index rose 0.03% to 104.91, the USD/JPY rose 0.16% to 160.99, and the USD/AUD gained 0.01% to 1.4837.

Photo by Pavel Bobrovskiy via Shutterstock