On Monday, April 29th, the U.S. stock markets closed higher, led by significant gains in Tesla and Apple. Investors are waiting for the Federal Reserve's interest rate decisions.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares surged 15.3% after making headway in securing regulatory approval for its driver-assistance program in China, its second-largest market.
In terms of economic indicators, the Dallas Fed Manufacturing index experienced a minor decline to -14.5 in April, down from -14.4 in March.
Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors finished higher, driven by gains in consumer discretionary, utilities, real estate, materials, and industrials, while Communication services and financials lagged.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.38% to close at 38,386.09. The S&P 500 was up 0.32%, ending the day at 5,116.17, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.35%, finishing the session at 15,983.08.
Asian Markets Today
- On Tuesday, Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed higher by 1.17% at 38,379.50, led by gains in the Electrical/Machinery, Gas & Water, and Chemical, Petroleum & Plastic sectors.
- Japanese industrial production exceeded expectations in March, recovering after two months of declines. However, weaker-than-expected retail sales suggest continued soft consumer spending, which could lead to lower inflation shortly.
- In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index closed the session up by 0.35% at 7,664.10, led by gains in the A-REITs, Consumer Discretionary, and Healthcare sectors.
- India's Nifty 50 was down 0.28% at 22,577.00, and Nifty 500 was trading lower by 0.07% at 20,977.65.
- China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.26% to end the session at 3,104.82, and the Shenzhen CSI 300 slid 0.54%, closing at 3,604.39.
- Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.09%, concluding the day at 17,763.03.
Eurozone at 06:00 AM ET
- The European STOXX 50 index was down 0.47%.
- Germany's DAX declined 0.44%.
- France's CAC slid 0.19%.
- U.K.'s FTSE 100 traded higher by 0.42%.
Commodities at 06:00 AM ET
- Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.23% at $82.83/bbl, and Brent was up 0.28% at $87.44 bbl.
- Natural Gas gained 2.22% to $2.075.
- Gold was trading lower by 1.26% at $2,328.25, Silver slipped 2.60% to $26.940, while Copper was down 1.00% at $4.6297.
- Gold prices dropped due to increased expectations of sustained high U.S. interest rates and diminished safe-haven demand, spurred by renewed ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.
US Futures at 06:00 AM ET
Dow futures were down 0.04%, S&P 500 futures declined 0.16%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures fell 0.17%.
Forex at 06:00 AM ET
The U.S. dollar index gained 0.16% to 105.74, the USD/JPY rose 0.36% to 156.90, and the USD/AUD rose 0.53% to 1.5309.
Photo by Pavel Bobrovskiy via Shutterstock