On Friday, July 26th, U.S. stock markets closed higher as investors returned to tech megacaps, and inflation data fueled hopes for Fed rate cuts. Despite this, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended the week lower for the second consecutive week. The Dow Jones closed positively, aided by 3M’s 23% surge after raising its annual profit forecast.
In economic data, the headline Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index fell to 2.5% year-on-year in June, as expected, while the core component stayed at 2.6% instead of dropping to 2.5%.
S&P 500 sectors ended positively, with industrials, materials, and real estate stocks showing the highest gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.64% and closed at 40,589.34. The S&P 500 gained 1.11%, ending the day at 5,459.10, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.03%, finishing the session at 17,357.88.
Asian Markets Today
- On Monday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed higher by 2.29%, ending the session at 38,516.00, led by gains in the Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic, Textile, and Services sectors.
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.86%, ending the day at 7,989.60, led by gains in the IT, Telecoms Services, and A-REITs sectors.
- India’s Nifty 50 rose 0.03% to 24,842.45, and Nifty 500 was up 0.47%, closing at 23,401.05.
- China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.03%, ending the session at 2,891.85, and the Shenzhen CSI declined 0.54%, closing at 3,390.74.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended the session higher by 1.28% at 17,238.34.
Eurozone at 06:00 AM ET
- The European STOXX 50 index gained 0.12%.
- Germany’s DAX rose 0.36%.
- France’s CAC was down 0.06%.
- U.K.’s FTSE 100 traded higher by 0.97%.
Commodities at 06:00 AM ET
- Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.08% at $77.22/bbl, and Brent was up 0.15% at $80.39 bbl.
- Oil prices rose on Monday, recovering some of last week’s losses. This was driven by fears of escalating Middle East conflict following a rocket strike in the Golan Heights. Despite this, concerns about weakening Chinese demand continue to pressure crude prices.
- Natural Gas gained 0.05% to $2.052.
- Gold was trading higher by 0.44% at $2,438.60, Silver rose 0.86% to $28.258, and Copper fell 0.51% to $4.1025.
US Futures at 06:00 AM ET
Dow futures were up 0.32%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.35%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.50%.
Forex at 06:00 AM ET
The U.S. dollar index gained 0.12% to 104.44, the USD/JPY was up 0.04% to 153.77, and the USD/AUD slid 0.01% to 1.5266.
Photo by Pavel Bobrovskiy via Shutterstock