Wall Street indices finished yesterday's trading higher, following big revision to annual payrolls data and dovish FOMC minutes
S&P 500 gained 0.42%, Dow Jones moved 0.14% higher, Nasdaq added 0.57% and small-cap Russell 2000 surged 1.31%
FOMC minutes from July meeting showed that vast majority of FOMC members said it would be appropriate to cut rates in September. FOMC members also noted increased risks to employment-side of Fed's mandate
US Bureau of Labor Statistics revised non-farm payrolls data for April 2023 - March 2024 period lower by 818k, more or less in the middle of market expectations (600-1000k)
Indices from Asia-Pacific traded mostly higher today - Nikkei gained 0.4%, S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3%, Kospi traded flat and Nifty 50 gained 0.2%. Indices from China traded mixed
European index futures point to a flat or slightly higher opening of today's cash session for major blue chips indices from the Old Continent
Flash manufacturing PMI index from Australia improved from 47.5 to 48.7 in August (exp. 47.5), while services PMI improved from 50.4 to 52.2 (exp 50.1)
Japanese manufacturing PMI index improved from 49.1 to 49.5 in August (exp. 49.8)
Major cryptocurrencies pull back today - Bitcoin drops 0.8%, Ethereum trades 0.6% lower and Dogecoin declines 1.6%
Energy commodities drop slightly - oil trades 0.1% lower, while US natural gas prices are down 0.6%
Precious metals trade mixed - gold and silver drop 0.3%, while platinum trades flat and palladium gains 0.9%
CAD and JPY are the best performing major currencies, while AUD and GBP lag the most