Asia Advances, Europe Mixed; Crude Slips To $77 And Gold Surges Above $2,430 - Global Markets Today While US Slept

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

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

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

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