Natural Gas Jumps 4%, Oil Hits $75; Europe Markets Advance - Global Markets Today While Us Slept

On Tuesday, January 7th, U.S. markets closed lower as strong economic data fueled fears of prolonged inflation, delaying Federal Reserve rate cuts. Rising job openings and services activity drove benchmark 10-year Treasury yields to 4.699%, the highest since April. Markets now expect the Fed to hold rates through 2025.

Economic data showed that the U.S. trade deficit widened to $78.2 billion in November, up from a revised $73.6 billion in October and aligning with market expectations. Imports grew by 3.4% to $351.6 billion, while exports increased by 2.7% to $273.4 billion.

Most S&P 500 sectors fell, led by losses in consumer discretionary, communication services, and tech stocks, while energy and health care gained.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.42% and closed at 42,528.36, the S&P 500 closed lower by 1.11% at 5,909.00, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.89% to finish at 19,489.68.

Asia Markets Today

• On Wednesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed lower by 0.27% at 39,970.50, led by losses in the Power, Transportation Equipment, and Warehousing sectors.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.77%, ending the session at 8,349.10, led by gains in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors.
• India’s Nifty 50 closed lower by 0.14% at 23,674.75, and Nifty 500 slid 0.56%, closing at 22,216.45, led by losses in the Consumer Durables, Capital Goods and Power sectors.
• China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.02% and closed at 3,230.17, while the Shenzhen CSI 300 declined 0.18% and finished the day at 3,789.22.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed the session lower by 0.86% at 19,279.84.

Eurozone at 05:30 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 was up 0.32%.
• Germany’s DAX gained 0.49%.
• France’s CAC rose 0.05%.
• U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index traded higher at 0.23%.

Commodities at 05:30 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.71% at $74.78/bbl, and Brent was up 0.40% at $77.35/bbl.
• Oil prices rose as tighter supplies from Russia and OPEC, falling U.S. crude stocks and strong economic data boosted the demand outlook.
• Natural Gas gained 4.81% to $3.616.
• Gold was trading higher by 0.11% at $2,668.94, Silver was up 0.51% to $30.843, and Copper rose 0.27% to $4.2073.

U.S. Futures at 05:30 AM ET

Dow futures were up 0.27%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.30%, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.32%.

Forex at 05:30 AM ET

• The U.S. dollar index rose 0.24% to 108.95, the USD/JPY rose 0.18% to 158.33, and the USD/AUD gained 0.32% to 1.6101.
• The dollar strengthened, driven by strong U.S. economic data, rising bond yields, and diminished expectations of Fed rate cuts.

Photo by Pavel Bobrovskiy via Shutterstock