Asia Markets Up, Europe Slides And Gold Gains Amid Tariff Uncertainty - Global Markets Today While US Slept

On Tuesday, April 1st, U.S. markets closed mixed. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended higher after a volatile session fueled by investor anxiety over impending U.S. tariff announcements from the Trump administration.

Tech stocks like Tesla and Meta led the gains, while healthcare and airline stocks weighed on the indexes. Despite the uptick, markets remained cautious amid ongoing economic uncertainty. Newsmax and CoreWeave surged among newly listed IPOs. Overall trading volume was slightly below the 20-day average.

In economic data, U.S. manufacturing activity slowed in March, with the ISM PMI falling to 49—below expectations. Construction spending rose 0.7% in February, rebounding from a January decline. Meanwhile, job openings declined by 194,000 to 7.57 million.

Most S&P 500 sectors ended the day higher, led by technology and consumer discretionary, while healthcare and financials posted losses.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.03% to 41,989.96, while the S&P 500 rose 0.38% to 5,633.08, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.87% to close at 17,449.89.

Asia Markets Today

• On Wednesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed the session higher by 0.28% at 35,725.00.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.12% and closed at 7,934.50, led by gains in the A-REITs, Telecoms Services and Financials sectors.        
• India’s Nifty 50 was up 0.70% to 23,327.40, and Nifty 500 gained 0.92% to 21,264.05.
• China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.05% to 3,350.13, while the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 slid by 0.08% to 3,884.39.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.02%, ending the session at 23,202.53.

Eurozone at 05:45 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 was down 0.50%.
• Germany’s DAX declined 1.00%.
• France’s CAC 40 fell 0.39%.
• U.K.’s FTSE 100 index traded lower by 0.77%.

Commodities at 05:45 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading lower by 0.07% at $71.15/bbl, and Brent was down 0.12% at $74.40/bbl.
• Oil prices held steady as traders awaited U.S. tariff details, fearing trade tensions could hit demand. Mixed U.S. inventory data and potential sanctions on Russian and Iranian oil added uncertainty.
• Natural Gas gained 0.43% to $3.968.
• Gold was trading higher by 0.53% at $3,162.60, Silver was up 1.41% to $34.792, and Copper rose 0.78% to $5.0740.
• Gold prices held steady near record highs as investors awaited Trump’s tariff announcement. Economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions boosted demand, with forecasts suggesting further gains if growth slows sharply.

U.S. Futures at 05:45 AM ET

Dow futures were down 0.19%, S&P 500 futures declined 0.24% and Nasdaq 100 futures slid 0.32%.

Forex at 05:45 AM ET

The U.S. Dollar Index was down 0.14% to 104.07, USD/JPY was down 0.35% to 149.48, and USD/AUD declined 1.06% to 1.5839.

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