On Wall Street, investors ignore third day of U.S. government shutdown

"Wall Street nudged past yesterday's record highs in early trading Friday as investors continue to shrug off the U.S. government shutdown, now in its third day.Futures for S&P 500, Nasdaq and the Dow Jones Industrial Average all added 0.2% before the bell. All three closed at record levels on Thursday, boosted by gains of chipmakers and artificial intelligence companies.Markets have largely ignored the shutdown of the U.S. government after Democrat and Republican lawmakers failed to reach agreement on funding."

"The government shutdown means this week's usual report on jobless claims was delayed. An even more consequential report, the monthly tally of jobs gains and losses that usually comes out the first Friday of every month, will also not arrive as scheduled.That increases uncertainty when much on Wall Street is riding on investors' expectation that the job market is slowing by enough to convince the Federal Reserve to keep cutting interest rates, but not by so much that it leads to a recession."

U.S. equity futures rose and major indexes nudged past record highs as investors continued to downplay the U.S. government shutdown. Chipmakers and artificial intelligence companies drove gains that pushed the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow to record levels. The shutdown delayed weekly jobless claims and the monthly jobs report, creating uncertainty for markets that depend on labor data to gauge Federal Reserve rate cuts. Historical shutdowns have had limited market impact, but concerns remain about large-scale federal firings and a potential AI-driven bubble as money floods the industry.

Read at Fast Company