Asia And Europe Markets Dip, Crude Oil Nears $71 – Global Markets Today While US Was Sleeping – Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), SmartETFs Asia Pacific Dividend Builder ETF (ARCA:ADIV)

On Tuesday, January 16th, U.S. stock markets closed lower, influenced by mixed results from Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) impacting banking stocks, along with declines in Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) affecting the S&P 500.

Related: Morgan Stanley Reports Q4 Results, Joins Boeing, Alcoa, And Other Big Stocks Moving Lower On Tuesday

In economic data, the NY Empire State Manufacturing Index dropped to -43.7 in January, its lowest since May 2020. 

The S&P 500 mostly closed lower, with energy and materials sectors leading the fall, while information technology stocks ended higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.62%, closing at 37,361.12. In contrast, the S&P 500 dropped 0.37% to 4,765.98, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.19%, ending the session at 14,944.35.

Asian Markets Today

• On Wednesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed the session lower by 0.32% at 35,477.75, led by losses in the Transportation Equipment, Marine Transport, and Textile sectors.
• Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.29%, ending at 7,393.10, led by losses in the Gold, Energy and Resources sectors.
• India’s Nifty 50 closed lower by 2.09% at 21,571.95, and the Nifty 500 slid 1.71% to 19,487.60. 
• China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 2.09% to 2,833.62, while the Shenzhen CSI 300 decreased 2.18%, closing at 3,229.08.
• China’s economy saw a 5.2% expansion in the fourth quarter compared to the previous year. Industrial output in December expanded 6.8% year-over-year, exceeding the forecast of 6.6% and matching the November figure. Retail sales in December +7.4% year-over-year, below the forecasted 8.0%, marked a decrease from the 10.1% observed in November.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 4.04%, concluding the day at 15,241.00. 
• The Hang Seng Index saw a significant downturn, mainly due to steep losses in the technology and financial sectors. Major financial stocks like China Ping An Insurance and HSBC Holdings (NYSE:HSBC) fell by 1.78% and 1.84%, highlighting the Hong Kong stock market’s vulnerability to investor sentiment and broader economic conditions, especially in the technology and financial sectors.

Eurozone at 06:00 AM ET

• The European STOXX 600 index was down 1.27%.
•  Germany’s DAX slipped 1.05%.
•  France’s CAC declined by 1.23%.
•  The UK’s FTSE 100 traded lower by 1.57%.
•  European stocks were impacted by hawkish comments from ECB officials dampening hopes for interest rate cuts and pessimistic economic data from China exacerbating investor concerns.

Commodities at 06:00 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading lower by 2.14% at $70.99/bbl, and Brent was down 1.93% at $76.78/bbl.
• Natural Gas declined 3.07% to $2.811.
• Gold was trading lower by 0.10% at $2,028.10, Silver slid by 0.57% to $22.962, while Copper was down by 0.41% to $3.7510.

US Futures at 06:00 AM ET

Dow futures were down 0.41%, S&P 500 futures declined 0.45%, while Nasdaq 100 Futures fell 0.55%.

Forex at 06:00 AM ET

The U.S. Dollar Index rose 0.04% to 103.40, USD/JPY increased 0.39% to 147.75, and AUD/USD gained 0.43% to 1.5257.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash