On Monday, November 24th, U.S. markets ended the day on a positive note, with gains fueled by a sharp drop in bond yields following Scott Bessent’s nomination as U.S. Treasury Secretary appointment eased concerns over government borrowing and trade tariffs, boosting market confidence. Small- and mid-cap stocks, which had underperformed earlier, saw strong gains, further supported by the Federal Reserve’s recent rate cuts.

In contrast, energy stocks declined as oil prices fell amid ongoing discussions of a potential ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.

In economic data, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index dropped to -0.40 in October, down from -0.27 and below expectations of -0.20. Meanwhile, the Dallas Fed’s Texas manufacturing index improved to -2.7 in November, up from -3 but slightly missing forecasts of -2.4.

Most S&P 500 sectors rose, led by real estate, materials, and consumer discretionary, while energy and tech lagged.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.99% and closed at 44,736.57, the S&P 500 gained 0.30% to 5,987.40, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.27% to finish at 19,054.84.

Asia Markets Today

• On Tuesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 0.84% and ended the session at 38,411.50, led by losses in the Power, Automobiles & Parts, and Railway & Bus sectors.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.69% and ended the day at 8,359.40, led by losses in the Energy, Gold, and Financials sectors.
• India’s Nifty 50 slid 0.12% to 24,192.95, while the Nifty 500 gained 0.05%, closing at 22,564.00. The decline was led by losses in the Power, Auto, and Oil and gas sectors.
• China’s Shanghai Composite declined 0.12% to close at 3,259.76, and the Shenzhen CSI 300 fell 0.21%, finishing the day at 3,840.18.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.04% and closed the session at 19,159.20.

Eurozone at 05:30 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 index was down 0.77%.
• Germany’s DAX fell 0.54%.
• France’s CAC declined0.72%.
• FTSE 100 index traded lower by 0.40%

Commodities at 05:30 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading higher by 0.97% at $69.61/bbl, and Brent was up 0.88% at $73.14/bbl.
• Natural Gas slid 0.26% to $3.434.
• Gold was trading higher by 0.55% at $2,657.40, Silver was up 1.02% to $30.972, and Copper fell 0.10% to $4.1550.

US Futures at 05:30 AM ET

Dow futures declined 0.04%, S&P 500 futures were down 0.02% and Nasdaq 100 futures slid 0.01%.

Forex at 05:30 AM ET

The U.S. dollar index fell 0.01% to 106.82, the USD/JPY was down 0.27% to 153.80, and the USD/AUD rose 0.21% to 1.5407.

Photo by Pavel Bobrovskiy via Shutterstock