Asia Markets Mixed, Europe Gains, Dollar Hit by Fed Concerns And Cooling Inflation - Global Markets Today While US Slept

On Wednesday, June 25, U.S. markets closed mixed, with the Nasdaq lifted by tech shares while the S&P 500 remained flat. Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s second day of congressional testimony reiterated the central bank’s wait-and-see approach to rate cuts.

Nvidia’s market value surged, making it the world’s most valuable company. Economic uncertainty weighed on corporate guidance, with notable declines from Tesla, FedEx, and General Mills. BlackBerry and Micron saw strong gains.

According to economic data, U.S. new home sales fell by 13.7% to 623,000 units in May, while building permits dropped by 2% to 1.394 million.

Most S&P 500 sectors closed lower, with real estate, consumer staples, and utilities posting the largest losses, while information technology and communication services stocks ended higher.

The Dow slid 0.25% to 42,982.43, the S&P 500 was flat at 6,092.16, and the Nasdaq gained 0.31% to 19,973.55.

Asia Markets Today

On Thursday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 1.66% higher at 39,588.00, led by gains in the Real Estate, Banking, and Textile sectors.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.10% at 8,550.80, led by losses in the IT, Gold, and A-REITs sectors.

India’s Nifty 50 was up 1.26% at 25,562.60, and the Nifty 500 gained 0.99% to 23,527.80.

China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.22% at 3,448.45, and Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 fell 0.35% to 3,946.02.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed the session 0.61% lower at 24,325.40.

Eurozone at 05:45 AM ET

The European STOXX 50 index was up 0.18%.

Germany’s DAX index gained 0.76%.

France’s CAC 40 rose 0.24%.

U.K.’s FTSE 100 index traded higher by 0.18%.

Commodities at 05:45 AM ET

Crude Oil WTI was trading lower by 0.03% at $64.90/bbl, and Brent was up 0.09% at $66.50/bbl.

Oil prices steadied after erasing earlier gains as investors focused on market fundamentals amid cautious optimism over the Iran-Israel ceasefire.

Natural gas fell 0.90% to $3.537.

Gold traded higher by 0.32% to $3,354.10, Silver rose 1.40% to $36.608, and Copper gained 2.77% to $5.0523.

U.S. Futures

At 05:45 AM ET, the Dow Jones futures rose 0.19%, the S&P 500 gained 0.27%, and the Nasdaq 100 was up 0.40%.

Forex

At 05:45 AM ET, the U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.56% to 97.15, USD/JPY was down 0.77% to 144.09, and USD/AUD slid 0.39% to 1.5293.

The dollar fell to multi-year lows against the euro and Swiss franc, driven by concerns over the Fed’s independence and Trump’s criticism of Powell.

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