Markets Latch Onto the Government Shutdown Thaw and Beijing Further Loosening Rare-Earth Controls

The government shutdown is likely to end Friday — but could restart at the end of January.

Key Takeaways

• Government Shutdown Close to a Resolution: The big news overnight was the 60-40 Senate vote to end the record-long forty-day U.S. government shutdown. The House is expected to vote on the bill on Wednesday — passage is not assured. It is likely that the government will reopen by Friday after the President’s signature… but this is a stopgap funding measure with a timeline to January 30^th.

• Data Lining Up for a December Rate Cut: ZipRecruiter announced that retailers are advertising -8.4% fewer job postings YoY, and the retrenchment for temporary positions in leisure/hospitality is -12%. Is there really a case any longer for deliberately keeping monetary policy restrictive to any degree?

• NYSE High-Low Streak Comes to an End: Last week was the first week since April that there were more NYSE 52-week lows than highs. This breaks a string of 27 weeks with more highs than lows, which was the longest such run since 2020-2021 when markets were coming off the pandemic low.