Asia Markets Mixed As Japan Recovers, Europe Opens In Red, Crude And Gold Advance – Global Markets Today While US Slept

On Monday, August 6, U.S. stock markets closed sharply lower, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 each falling over 3%. This extended last week's sell-off driven by fears from weak economic data and a soft U.S. payrolls report.

Concerns over a slowing economy and the Federal Reserve's decision to keep interest rates steady contributed to the decline. Apple shares dropped 4.8% after Berkshire Hathaway halved its stake, boosting its cash reserves to $277 billion.

According to economic data, the PMI of the ISM services rose to 51.4 in July from 48.8 in April, surpassing market expectations of 51. Meanwhile, the S&P Global composite PMI was revised down to 54.3 from the preliminary 55.

All sectors of the S&P 500 index ended in the red on Monday, with the largest declines seen in information technology, communication services, and consumer discretionary stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.60% and closed at 38,703.27. The S&P 500 declined 3.00%, ending the day at 5,186.33, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 3.43%, finishing the session at 16,200.08.

Asian Markets Today

• On Tuesday, Japan's Nikkei 225 closed drastically higher by 10.24%, ending the session at 34,260.00. Japanese leaders quickly addressed concerns over sharp market swings, with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida urging calm and senior finance officials holding an emergency meeting.
• Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.41%, ending the day at 7,680.60. The Reserve Bank of Australia held interest rates steady at 4.35% for the sixth consecutive meeting, citing the need for tight monetary conditions to combat high inflation.
• India's Nifty 50 slid 0.09% to 24,034.15, and Nifty 500 was down 0.30%, closing at 22,475.15.
• China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.23%, ending the session at 2,867.28, and the Shenzhen CSI declined 0.01%, closing at 3,342.98.
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended the session lower by 0.31% at 16,647.34.

Eurozone at 06:15 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 index declined 0.14%.
• Germany's DAX fell 0.06%.
• France's CAC was down 0.42%.
• U.K.'s FTSE 100 traded lower by 0.07%.

Commodities at 06:15 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.37% at $73.21/bbl, and Brent was up 0.22% at $76.47 bbl.
• Natural Gas gained 0.41% to $1.950.
• Gold was trading higher by 0.40% at $2,454.15, Silver fell 0.40% to $27.095, and Copper slid 0.58% to $3.9755.

US Futures at 06:15 AM ET

Dow futures were up 0.25%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.39%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.32%.

Forex at 06:15 AM ET

The U.S. dollar index gained 0.40% to 103.08%, the USD/JPY rose 0.38% to 144.72, and the USD/AUD gained 0.24% to 1.5429.

Photo by Pavel Bobrovskiy via Shutterstock