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The government shutdown will officially make its way into a second month as an agreement to reopen still hasn’t been made. It will likely have an impact on monetary policy moving forward as the Federal Reserve is being asked to make decisions without key data.

It’s unlikely that the September jobs report is going to be published, and it’s also likely that the October jobs report will be delayed as well. It would typically be delivered on the first Friday of the month.

This week, the Fed released its October rate decision, and it decided to reduce the country’s main interest rate by 25 basis points. Although such a move was expected, the final vote was an interesting one as there was dissention in both directions. One voting member believed that the Fed Funds Rate should stay where it is while another voted for a rate cut of 50 basis points.

While many believe that there will be one or two more rate cuts this year, the shutdown has made this less of a foregone conclusion. A lack of data leaves the Fed with a cloudy picture of consumer demand as well as the overall health of the job market. Therefore, some may want to move cautiously preferring to ease back to neutral or to stand pat in case inflation comes roaring back.

There were a couple of notable events on the tariff front this week with President Trump agreeing to reduce duties paid by China on its exports to the United States. He also held firm on his decision not to negotiate with Canada even after Canadian officials agreed to take down ads criticizing tariffs.

The S&P 500 closed out the month of October on a winning note as the index closed the week up 11.7 points to finish at 6,840. This represents a gain of 0.17 percent for the week that saw the market make a high of 6,919 on Wednesday and a low of 6,830 on Friday afternoon.

The Dow was also up slightly this week to finish at 47,562. This was a gain of 185.93 points or 0.39 percent for the market that continues to make fresh all-time highs. Over the last five days, the index made a high of 47,989 and a low of 47,347.

Finally, the Nasdaq made small gains this week finishing at 23,724 at the close of Friday’s trading. This was a gain of 210 points or 0.9 percent for the tech index. Over the past five days, it made a high of 24,016 and a low of 23,557.

In international news, both the Royal Bank of Canada (BOC) and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) made interest rate decisions this week. On Wednesday, the BOC reduced the country’s main rate by 25 basis points to 2.25 percent. The BOJ kept rates steady at roughly 0.5 percent. In addition, the Eurozone made its October interest rate announcement choosing to keep its main rate steady at 2.15 percent.

The upcoming week will feature several important news announcements even if the shutdown isn’t resolved. Among the top releases include the ISM Services PMI and ISM Manufacturing PMI in addition to the ADP version of the nonfarm payroll report expected out on Wednesday. If the shutdown is resolved, the BLS version of the report will be issued on Friday along with the PCE Core Price Index data.

The government shutdown dragged on for another week without any hope of a resolution. This means that a slew of economic reports typically issued throughout the month have either been postponed or scrapped altogether. The September jobs report looks like it won’t be released until the first week of November at the earliest, and if the shutdown drags on much longer, the October report may be in danger of being delayed as well.

However, one important report was finally released this week in the form of the September inflation figures. Over the past month, inflation rose 0.3 percent, which was slightly below the expected increase of 0.4 percent. However, on an annualized basis, inflation was 3 percent, which was slightly higher than the 2.9 percent recorded in August.

Also on Friday, the Flash Services PMI and the Flash Manufacturing PMI reports were made public. The Flash Services PMI came in at 55.2, which was much higher than the projected 53.5 and higher than last month’s official figure of 54.2. The Flash Manufacturing PMI came in at 52.2, which was slightly higher than projections and last month’s figure. This implies that there is a period of growth ahead for both the services and manufacturing sector.

The state of the economy may also be complicated by the ongoing wage trade wars with China and Canada. Although it’s unlikely that a 100 percent tariff against China will be enforced in full, tensions between the two nations mean that anything is possible over the short-term.

The S&P 500 was up 90 points to finish 6,791, which represented an increase of 1.34 percent over the past five trading days. The index continues to make all-time highs as the April correction becomes a distant memory. The weekly low of 6,668 was reached on Wednesday morning while the weekly high of 6,806 was hit late on Friday afternoon.

The Dow was up 778 points to finish the week at 47,207, which was a gain of 1.68 percent over the past five trading days. On Monday, the market opened at its lowest point of the week of 46,967 before reversing and moving higher. The high came on Friday when the index reached 47,299.

Finally, the Nasdaq finished the week up 326 points to close at 25,358 at the end of trading Friday. This was a gain of 1.31 percent for the tech-heavy sector that is also flirting with all-time highs. For the week, the index peaked at 25,401 late on Friday and made its low of the week on Wednesday when it dipped to 24,711.

In international news, Great Britain announced on Wednesday morning that its CPI was 3.8 percent on an annualized basis. This was lower than the projected 4 percent and the same as last month’s official figure. On Tuesday morning, Canada announced that its CPI rose by 0.1 percent on a monthly basis and was 3.2 percent on an annualized basis. On Thursday, Canada announced that retail sales were up 1 percent over the past month.

The upcoming week will likely be a muted one as only the Fed Funds decision on Wednesday is guaranteed to take place. It’s expected that the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points at the October meeting.

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.