Asia Mixed, Europe Markets Dip; Crude Falls Below $75 And Dollar Slips – Global Markets Today While US Slept

On Wednesday, August 7, U.S. stock markets closed lower; investor anxiety from a recent global selloff and the Treasury auction results led to further declines.

According to economic data, the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index rose by 2.8% in July. Mortgage applications increased by 6.9% for the week ending August 2.

The majority of S&P 500 sectors closed down, with consumer discretionary, materials, and tech stocks seeing the biggest losses. Energy and utilities stocks, however, closed higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.60% and closed at 38,763.45. The S&P 500 declined 0.77%, ending the day at 5,199.50, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.05%, finishing the session at 16,195.81.

Asian Markets Today

• On Thursday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed lower by 0.84% ending the session at 34,823.50, led by losses in the Rubber, Warehousing and Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic sectors.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.23%, ending the day at 7,682.00, led by losses in the Gold, Metals & Mining, and A-REITs sectors.
• India’s Nifty 50 was down 0.66% at 24,150.40, and Nifty 500 was down 0.52% at 22,723.35.
• China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.04%, ending the session at 2,869.90, while the Shenzhen CSI gained 0.04%, closing at 3,342.94.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended the session lower by 0.08% at 16,891.83.

Eurozone at 05:30 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 index declined 1.18%.
• Germany’s DAX fell 0.67%.
• France’s CAC was down 1.17%.
• U.K.’s FTSE 100 traded lower by 1.05%.

Commodities at 05:30 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading lower by 0.49% at $74.86/bbl, and Brent was down 0.59% at $77.88 bbl.
• Natural Gas declined 1.42% to $2.082.
• Gold was trading higher by 0.09% at $2,434.60, Silver fell 0.02% to $26.940, and Copper rose 0.14% to $3.9575.

US Futures at 05:30 AM ET

Dow futures were down 0.23%, S&P 500 futures fell 0.15%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.04%.

Forex at 05:30 AM ET

• The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.15% to 103.05, USD/JPY was down 0.28% at 146.30, and USD/AUD declined 0.51% to 1.5268.
• The yen experienced volatile trading Thursday after a sharp drop the previous day, driven by the unwinding of carry trades and changes in Japanese monetary policy. Despite mixed signals from the Bank of Japan on interest rates, the yen has rebounded from its July lows. Investors remain cautious, expecting further volatility.

Photo by Pavel Bobrovskiy via Shutterstock