Asia Markets Mixed, Europe Sees Uptick, Crude Oil Trades Near $73 – Global Markets Today While Us Was Sleeping – SmartETFs Asia Pacific Dividend Builder ETF (ARCA:ADIV)

On Wednesday, January 17th, U.S. stock markets closed lower, influenced by December’s positive U.S. retail sales data, which lessened the chances of an early Federal Reserve rate cut in March and by rising Treasury yields.

In economic data, U.S. retail sales increased by 0.6% in December, up from November’s 0.3% rise, and industrial production rose by 0.1% from the previous month. Additionally, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index rose to 44 in January, up from 37 last month.

Amazon AMZN, Nvidia Corp NVDA, and Alphabet GOOGL each fell between 0.5% to 1%, contributing to the S&P 500’s decline,

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.25%, closing at 37,266.67, the S&P 500 dropped 0.56% to 4,739.21, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped by 0.59%, ending the session at 14,855.62.

Asia Markets Today

• On Thursday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed the session lower by 0.04% at 35,466.17, led by losses in the Transportation Equipment, Marine Transport, and Textile sectors.
• Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.63%, ending at 7,346.50, led by losses in the A-REITs, Metals & Mining and Resources sectors.
• India’s Nifty 50 closed lower by 0.51% at 21,462.25, and the Nifty 500 was down 0.37% to 19,487.60. 
• China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.43% to 2,845.78, while the Shenzhen CSI 300 climbed 1.14%, closing at 3,274.73.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 0.75%, concluding the day at 15,391.79. 

Eurozone at 06:00 AM ET

• The European STOXX 600 index was up 0.38%.
• Germany’s DAX gained 0.50%.
• France’s CAC rose by 0.76%.
• The U.K.’s FTSE 100 traded higher by 0.19%.
• European stocks rebounded after three days of losses, driven by strong results from Richemont and Flutter, with a focus on the upcoming release of the European Central Bank’s meeting minutes.

Commodities at 06:00 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.81% at $73.03/bbl, and Brent was up 0.49% at $79.26/bbl.
• Natural Gas climbed 1.88% to $2.924.
• Gold was trading higher by 0.33% at $2,013.15, Silver rose by 0.30% to $22.742, while Copper was down 0.14% to $3.7280.

US Futures at 06:00 AM ET       

Dow futures were up 0.05%, S&P 500 futures increased 0.15%, while Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.40%.

Forex at 06:00 AM ET

The U.S. Dollar Index fell 0.19% to 103.25, USD/JPY declined 0.17% to 147.90, and AUD/USD slid 0.18% to 1.5235.

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