Gold Hits All Time High While Dollar Weakens; Asia And Europe Markets Retreat - Global Markets Today While US Slept

On Tuesday, July 16th, U.S. stock markets closed higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting a record high after U.S. retail sales data suggested the Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its easing cycle, controlling inflation without causing a recession.

In economic data, U.S. retail sales remained flat in June compared to a revised 0.3% increase in the previous month. Import prices were unchanged from the prior month, while export prices in the U.S. fell by 0.5% in June.

Among the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, industrials saw the highest percentage gains, while technology and communication services were the only two sectors to close in negative territory.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.53% and closed at 40,211.72. The S&P 500 gained 0.28%, ending the day at 5,631.22, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.42%, finishing the session at 18,475.86.

Asian Markets Today

• On Wednesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed lower by 0.31%, ending the session at 41,153.00, led by losses in the Transportation Equipment, Pharmaceutical Industry, and Rubber sectors.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.73%, ending the day at 8,057.90, led by gains in the Gold, A-REITs, and IT sectors.
• India markets closed for the Moharram holiday.
• China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.45%, ending the session at 2,962.85, and the Shenzhen CSI rose 0.09%, closing at 3,501.58.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended the session higher by 0.06% at 17,739.41.
• Most Asian stocks fell on Wednesday, led by declines in Taiwan and China, following Donald Trump’s comments that Taiwan should pay the U.S. for defense. However, gains on Wall Street limited broader losses. Tech stocks, particularly chipmakers, also dipped ahead of key earnings reports.

Eurozone at 06:00 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 index declined 0.89%.
• Germany’s DAX fell 0.37%.
• France’s CAC was down 0.35%.
• U.K.’s FTSE 100 traded lower by 0.12%.

Commodities at 06:00 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.01% at $79.72/bbl, and Brent was down 0.10% at $83.65 bbl.
• Natural Gas declined 0.18% to $2.184.
• Gold was trading higher by 0.49% at $2,479.85, Silver fell 0.91% to $31.172, and Copper rose 0.52% to $4.4715.
• Gold prices hit a record driven by post-CPI and rate-cut optimism.

US Futures at 06:00 AM ET

Dow futures were down 0.20%, S&P 500 futures declined 0.73%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures fell 1.23%.

Forex at 06:00 AM ET

The U.S. dollar index declined 0.54% to 103.71, the USD/JPY was down 1.14% to 156.41, and the USD/AUD rose 0.28% to 1.4809.

The U.S. dollar fell to multi-month lows on Wednesday, while the Japanese yen strengthened sharply. The dollar’s decline comes amid expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts despite mixed economic data.

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