The markets were undeterred by the fact that the United States government is still largely shut down. Several news reports were postponed to a later date, including the release of the September jobs report, which was scheduled to be released two weeks ago.
Inflation, price change and unemployment claims data have also been sidelined for the time being. The latest CPI report is scheduled to be released on the 24th if the shutdown ends by then. However, the September jobs report is no longer scheduled to be released this month, and unemployment claims data for next week has also been removed from the schedule.
This could imply that there is no expectation that the impasse in Washington is going to end anytime soon. Democrats refuse to vote for a stopgap funding measure absent an extension of subsidies for those who access health insurance via the Affordable Care Act. Republicans say that they will offer a vote on an extension in exchange for a vote to end the shutdown.
According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the shutdown is causing an estimated $15 billion in losses per day. There are also worries that greater damage could come as furloughed workers are in danger of missing a second paycheck. President Donald Trump has said that some members of the FBI and military are getting paychecks.
Despite the uncertainty in Washington, the S&P 500 was up 0.44 percent to close at 6,664 on Friday. The low of the week came on Tuesday when the index dipped to 6,564 while the high of the week came the next day when the market peaked at 6,720. This represented an all-time high for the index that is up 14 percent over the past year.
The Dow was also higher this week closing up 0.64 percent to finish at 46,190 at the end of trading on Friday. Over the past five trading days, the market made a low of 45,532 on Tuesday and a high of 46,637 on Wednesday. As with the S&P 500, the Dow is also near all-time highs and is up almost 7 percent since this time last year.
Finally, the Nasdaq was up 0.78 percent this week to close at 24,817. Like the other two markets, this index made its low of the week on Tuesday and its high on Wednesday. The low was 24,301 while the high was 24,920. Over the last 12 months, the index has gone up almost 23 percent.
Gold and silver both continued their historic runs this week to make fresh all-time highs. Gold nearly reached $4,400 an ounce while silver made a run at $54 an ounce during the middle of the week.
In international news, Australia announced on Wednesday night that its economy had added roughly 15,000 jobs and that the nation’s unemployment rate increased to 4.5 percent. On Thursday morning, Great Britain announced that its gross domestic product was up 0.1 percent over the past month, which matched analyst expectations.
The upcoming week is full of tentatively scheduled news events in the United States. In addition to inflation data, the Flash Manufacturing and Flash Services PMI reports will be released. In addition, the revised University of Michigan consumer sentiment and inflation expectations reports will be made public in addition to new home sales data. Canada and Great Britain will also report inflation data throughout the week for those who keep an eye on foreign news events.