On Friday, July 12th, U.S. stock markets closed higher, with the S&P 500 and Dow hitting record highs on expectations of a Fed rate cut. Major banks fell on mixed results, while Apple and Nvidia both saw gains.
In economic news, June's headline PPI for final demand rose by 0.2%, surpassing the expected 0.1% increase. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment fell for the fourth month, reaching 66 in July from 68.2 in June.
All S&P 500 sectors closed higher Friday, with IT, consumer discretionary, and materials leading gains, while communication services closed lower.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.62% and closed at 40,000.90. The S&P 500 gained 0.55%, ending the day at 5,615.35, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.62%, finishing the session at 18,396.98.
Asian Markets Today
- Japan Markets closes For the Marine Day holiday.
- On Monday, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 closed higher by 0.73%, ending at 8,017.60, led by gains in the IT, Consumer Discretionary, and A-REITs sectors.
- India's Nifty 50 traded higher by 0.34% at 24,586.75, and Nifty 500 rose 0.52% to 23,215.50.
- China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.09%, ending the session at 2,974.01, and the Shenzhen CSI rose 0.11%, closing at 3,476.25.
- Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended the session lower by 1.52% at 18,015.94.
- China's economy grew slower than expected in Q2, with a 4.7% increase, missing the 5.1% forecast. The consumer sector struggled, with retail sales growth hitting an 18-month low.
Eurozone at 06:00 AM ET
- The European STOXX 50 index declined 0.27%.
- Germany's DAX fell 0.28%.
- France's CAC was down 0.41%.
- U.K.'s FTSE 100 traded lower by 0.22%.
Commodities at 06:00 AM ET
- Crude Oil WTI was trading lower by 0.01% at $81.01/bbl, and Brent was up 0.06% at $85.08 bbl.
- Natural Gas declined 2.45% to $2.272.
- Gold was trading lower by 0.15% at $2,416.65, Silver declined 0.69% to $30.948, and Copper slid 0.87% to $4.5530.
US Futures at 06:00 AM ET
Dow futures were up 0.50%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.42%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.50%.
Forex at 06:00 AM ET
The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.01% to 104.09, USD/JPY was up 0.07% at 158.00, and USD/AUD slid 0.08% to 1.4751.
Photo by Pavel Bobrovskiy via Shutterstock