Asia Mixed, European Markets Advance; Gold Stays Near All Time High While Dollar Gains - Global Markets Today While US Slept

On Tuesday, August 20th, U.S. stock markets closed lower, with the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow all experiencing modest declines, breaking an eight-day winning streak. This downturn comes as investors take a cautious pause ahead of the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, where global central bank representatives will convene.

Among the 11 major sectors within the S&P 500, energy stocks experienced the steepest decline, while consumer staples were the top performers, gaining 0.5%.

Eli Lilly’s LLY shares rose 3.1% after its weight-loss drug Zepbound significantly reduced Type 2 diabetes risk. Palo Alto Networks PANW jumped 7.2% on strong fiscal 2025 forecasts, while Boeing fell 4.2% following an FAA directive for its 787 Dreamliner.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.15% and closed at 40,834.97. The S&P 500 ended the day lower by 0.20% at 5,597.12, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.33%, finishing the session at 17,816.94.

Asian Markets Today

• On Wednesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed lower by 0.35% at 37,969.50, led by losses in the Precision Instruments, Mining and Machinery sectors.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.16%, ending the day at 8,010.50, led by gains in the IT, Gold and Metals & Mining sectors.
• India’s Nifty 50 gained 0.16%, closing at 24,579.90, and the Nifty 500 closed higher by 0.40% at 23,150.15.
• China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.35%, ending the session at 2,856.58, and the Shenzhen CSI declined 0.33%, closing at 3,321.64.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended the session lower by 0.69% at 17,391.01.

Eurozone at 06:15 AM ET

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• The European STOXX 50 index gained 0.09%.
• Germany’s DAX rose 0.39%.
• France’s CAC was up 0.31%.
• U.K.’s FTSE 100 traded higher by 0.22%.

Commodities at 06:15 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.56% at $73.54/bbl, and Brent was up 0.58% at $77.65 bbl.
• Natural Gas fell 0.68% to $2.183.
• Gold was trading lower by 0.27% at $2,543.65, Silver gained 0.33% to $29.617, and Copper rose 0.69% to $4.1870.

US Futures at 06:15 AM ET

Dow futures were up 0.07%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.08%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.05%.

Forex at 06:15 AM ET

The U.S. dollar index gained 0.08% to 101.52, the USD/JPY rose 0.58% to 146.07, and the USD/AUD rose 0.16% to 1.4844.

Photo by Pavel Bobrovskiy via Shutterstock