Dollar Strengthens Amid Global Market Decline; Asia And Europe Markets Down, Gold Drops - SmartETFs Asia

　　On Thursday, July 18, U.S. stock markets closed lower, reversing early gains as investors moved away from high-priced megacap growth stocks amid second-quarter earnings season. All major indexes dropped, with the Dow breaking its streak of record highs.

　　S&P 500 sectors closed mostly negative, with healthcare, consumer discretionary, and financials suffering the largest losses. Energy stocks, however, closed higher.

　　According to economic data, U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 10,000 to 243,000 for the week ending July 13, exceeding estimates of 230,000. The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index increased to 13.9 in July, up from 1.3 in June, marking a three-month high.

　　The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.29% and closed at 40,665.02. The S&P 500 declined 0.78%, ending the day at 5,544.59, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.70%, finishing the session at 17,871.22.

　　Pre-market Friday, CrowdStrikeCRWD and MicrosoftMSFT saw significant pre-market drops on Friday after a CrowdStrike update caused global Windows crashes. CrowdStrike fell nearly 13%, while Microsoft dipped 1.97%. The outage disrupted critical services and grounded flights for several airlines. CrowdStrike is working on a fix.

　　Asian Markets Today

• On Friday, Japans Nikkei 225 closed lower by 0.7%, ending the session at 40,092.00, led by losses in the Precision Instruments, Electrical/Machinery, and Insurance sectors.
• Australias S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.81%, ending the day at 7,971.60, led by losses in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors.
• Indias Nifty 50 fell 1.11% to 24,800.85, and Nifty 500 was down 1.59%, closing at 22,840.80.
• Chinas Shanghai Composite was up 0.17%, ending the session at 2,982.31, and the Shenzhen CSI rose 0.51%, closing at 3,539.02.
• Hong Kongs Hang Seng ended the session lower by 2.03% at 17,417.68.
• Chinese stocks declined on Friday amid renewed U.S.-China trade war concerns and speculation over a potential second Trump presidency. Losses were partially offset by hopes for government stimulus as policy discussions continued at the Chinese Communist Partys Third Plenum.

　　Eurozone at 06:00 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 index declined 0.38%.
• Germanys DAX fell 0.68%.
• Frances CAC was down 0.59%.
• U.K.s FTSE 100 traded lower by 0.28%.

　　Commodities at 06:00 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading lower by 0.21% at $81.13/bbl, and Brent was down 0.04% at $85.08 bbl.
• Natural Gas declined 1.36% to $2.096.
• Gold was trading lower by 1.64% at $2,415.60, Silver fell 2.73% to $29.398, and Copper slid 0.31% to $4.2662.
• Gold prices dropped sharply in Asian trade on Friday due to profit-taking and speculation over a potential Trump presidency favoring the dollar.

　　US Futures at 06:00 AM ET

• Dow futures were down 0.24%, S&P 500 futures slipped 0.14%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures fell 0.24%.

　　Forex at 06:00 AM ET

• The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.19% to 104.37, USD/JPY was up 0.08% at 157.50, and USD/AUD gained 0.23% to 1.4950.
• The dollar strengthened on Friday amid global cyber disruptions impacting banks and airlines, causing investor unease. Despite contained volatility, the dollar index rose, reversing recent declines and showing a slight weekly gain.