On Wednesday, December 4th, U.S. markets closed higher, boosted by strong tech earnings from Salesforce and optimistic comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Powell's remarks on the economy and inflation, along with expectations of a rate cut, helped lift market sentiment.
According to economic data, U.S. private businesses added 146K jobs in November, which is below estimates. Factory orders rose 0.2% to $586.7B, while the ISM services PMI fell to 52.1, missing expectations.
Most S&P 500 sectors declined, with energy, materials, and financials seeing the biggest losses, while consumer discretionary and technology stocks ended higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.69% and closed at 45,014.04, the S&P 500 gained 0.61% to 6,086.49, while the Nasdaq Composite soared 1.30% to finish at 19,735.12.
Asia Markets Today
- On Thursday, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.38% and ended the session at 39,382.50, led by gains in the Shipbuilding, Retail and Warehousing sectors.
- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.15% and ended the day at 8,474.90, led by gains in the Gold, IT and Consumer Discretionary sectors.
- India's Nifty 50 rose 0.94% to 24,696.45, and the Nifty 500 gained 0.75%, closing at 23,273.50. Gains in the Technology, Banking, and Consumer Durables sectors led the index.
- China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.13% to close at 3,368.86, while the Shenzhen CSI 300 fell 0.23%, finishing the day at 3,921.59.
- Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.92% and closed the session at 19,560.44.
Eurozone at 05:15 AM ET
- The European STOXX 50 index was up 0.65%.
- Germany's DAX rose 0.64%.
- France's CAC gained 0.44%.
- U.K.'s FTSE 100 index traded higher by 0.09%.
Commodities at 05:15 AM ET
- Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.34% at $68.78/bbl, and Brent was up 0.29% at $72.54/bbl.
- Oil prices edged up ahead of an OPEC+ meeting. Investors await decisions on extending supply cuts, while geopolitical tensions in the Middle East add uncertainty.
- Natural Gas gained 1.91% to $3.102.
- Gold was trading lower by 0.18% at $2,671.49, Silver was down 0.01% to $31.913, and Copper rose 0.23% to $4.2110.
U.S. Futures at 05:15 AM ET
Dow futures were up 0.02%, S&P 500 futures slid 0.02% and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.10%.
Forex at 05:15 AM ET
- The U.S. Dollar Index slipped 0.14% to 106.17, USD/JPY was down 0.21% at 150.28, and USD/AUD fell 0.14% to 1.5529.
- Bitcoin surged past $100,000 on Thursday, driven by expectations of a friendly U.S. regulatory shift, particularly with Trump's SEC nomination. Meanwhile, world stocks hit record highs, buoyed by positive remarks from Fed Chief Powell.
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