On Monday, July 24, the U.S. markets ended in green, with Dow Jones continuing its winning streak for the eleventh day, ahead of a week filled with earnings reports and a Federal Reserve meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 0.52% at 35,411.24 on Monday; the S&P 500 closed 0.40% higher at 4,554.64; and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.19% to 14,058.87.
Nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors rose, led by a gain in energy stocks.
Asian Markets Today
Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended Tuesday’s session lower by 0.13% at 32,649.50. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.46% at 7,339.70. Shanghai Composite closed at 3,231.52, up 2.13%; Shenzhen CSI 300 jumped 2.89% to 3,915.12. Chinese Stocks gained as Politburo pledged to step up efforts to boost China’s ailing economy. Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 4.33%, closing the session at 19,454.00, led by the Politburo pledge. The index saw gains in stocks of internet giants and electric vehicle makers.
Commenting on the Chinese consumer confidence, the chief executive of Port Shelter Investment Management, discussed the outlook for global markets and China’s economic recovery while noting the fact that ‘’Confidence is an unusual thing, it’s not just the property, its not just the economic situation, it’s the fact that people were really locked away for two and a half years, and that makes it very difficult.
“China was exceptional, people were locked in their blocks, they had to rely on local resources for food, for medical, this kind of thing. It was something that never really been seen in Chinas’ history, and I think this has actually put a great deal of emphasis on the fact that the people really want to keep themselves to themselves.,” said Harris.
The thing about confidence is that it takes time to recover. So actually I’ve no doubt that as things develop, we’ll see more Chinese tourists, we’ll see more Chinese spending but at the moment I think that the consumer in China is very tight, and that of course is now reflecting on the property market which is showing some weakness and other elements of the Chinese economy as well,”aid Richard Harris.
Eurozone at 05:15 AM ET
The Pan-European STOXX 600 index is up 0.20%. The DAX index in Germany traded 0.01% up, and the CAC 40 in France rose 0.11%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 traded higher by 0.19%, as Unilever gained 5% post-H1 results
US Futures at 05:15 AM ET
- Dow futures were down 0.01%, S&P 500 futures were up 0.16%, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.38%.
Commodities at 05:15 AM ET
Crude Oil WTI was trading lower by 0.27% at $78.53/bbl, and Brent was down 0.30% to $82.24/bbl. Natural Gas was trading higher by 0.67% at $2.706. Gold was trading up 0.11% at $1,964.35, Silver rose 0.90% to $24.802, and Copper gained 1.75% to $3.9225.
US Dollar Index at 05:15 AM ET
The U.S. Dollar Index was down 0.02% to 101.33.
‘’You know we’ve had this AI rally that’s continued the rally that we’ve seen from October, its largely interest rate dependent as people’s expectation of interest rate rises slowing, or maybe interest rates coming off that’s been happening, but you know, the real narrative has been this interest rate narrative, what hasn’t really come in is a potential recession narrative, or atleast the slowdown narrative, that is; Slow down in earnings and slow down in economic growth. We are not really seeing that in the U.S., but we are seeing that in other places, like China and other figures elsewhere for example in manufacturing” said Richard Harris, chief executive of Port Shelter Investment Management, while discussing the outlook for global markets and China’s economic recovery.
Produced in association with Benzinga
Edited by Eunice Anyango Oyule and Judy J. Rotich
