On Friday, August 9th, U.S. stock markets closed higher, nearly erasing weekly losses from a sharp Monday drop. Tech led the rebound, and the “fear gauge” declined after an early surge.

In economic data, Baker Hughes reported that the total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by three this week, bringing the count to 485 rigs.

All S&P 500 sectors closed higher on Friday, led by gains in communication services, real estate, and information technology, while materials stocks ended lower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.13% and closed at 39,497.54. The S&P 500 gained 0.47%, ending the day at 5,344.16, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.51%, finishing the session at 16,745.30.

Asian Markets Today

• Japan’s market was closed for the Mountain Day holiday.
• On Monday, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.46%, ending the day at 7,813.70, led by gains in the IT, Consumer Discretionary, and Telecoms Services sectors.
• India’s Nifty 50 was down 0.09% at 24,345.85, and the Nifty 500 declined 0.04%, closing at 22,913.85.
• China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.14%, ending the session at 2,858.20, while the Shenzhen CSI declined 0.17%, closing at 3,325.86.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended the session higher by 0.13% at 17,111.65.

Eurozone at 06:00 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 index declined 0.05%.
• Germany’s DAX rose 0.15%.
• France’s CAC was down 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 1.07% at $77.64/bbl, and Brent was up 0.85% at $80.33 bbl.
• Oil prices climbed for a fifth consecutive session, fueled by easing U.S. recession concerns and rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, with Brent crude and WTI both continuing their upward momentum from the previous week’s gains.
• Natural Gas gained 4.09% to $2.248.
• Gold was trading higher by 0.34% at $2,481.90, Silver rose 1.46% to $27.992, and Copper rose 1.23% to $4.0423.

US Futures at 06:00 AM ET

Dow futures were down 0.06%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.06%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures gained 0.17%.

Forex at 06:00 AM ET

• The U.S. dollar index gained 0.04% to 103.18, the USD/JPY was up 0.49% to 147.33, and the USD/AUD declined 0.49% to 1.5147.
• European stocks and U.S. futures held steady Monday, with the yen slipping due to a Japanese holiday. Investors focused on upcoming U.S. and Chinese economic data following last week’s market recovery driven by stronger-than-expected U.S. figures.

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