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NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks coasted to the finish of their latest winning month on Tuesday, as Wall Street yawned at the potential shutdown of the U.S. federal government that’s looming.
The S&P 500 rose 0.4% to close out its fifth straight winning month after setting a record last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 81 points, or 0.2%, to set its own all-time high, and the Nasdaq composite ticked 0.3% higher.
The quiet trading came as a midnight deadline approached, when the U.S. government could shut down because of Washington’s latest political impasse. That’s because history has shown that past shutdowns have had limited impact on the economy and stock market, and many economists and professional investors expect something similar this time around.
AP AUDIO: Wall Street yawns at DC’s looming shutdown as US stocks rise to finish their latest winning month
Wall Street heads for another winning month. The AP’s Seth Sutel reports.
The S&P 500 has climbed an average of 4.4% during past shutdowns and is positive over the last five, according to Monica Guerra, head of U.S. policy at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.
What could make this shutdown different, though, is that the White House may push for large-scale firings of federal workers.
The broad stock market has been on a nearly relentless run since hitting a low in April on expectations that President Donald Trump’s tariffs won’t derail global trade and that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates several times to boost the slowing job market.
Treasury yields wavered in the bond market but ultimately held relatively steady following mixed reports on the U.S. economy. One said consumers are feeling less confident than economists expected, with many respondents in the Conference Board’s survey pointing to the job market and to inflation that has remained higher than anyone would like.
A second report suggested the job market may be remaining in its “low-hire, low-fire” state. U.S. employers were advertising roughly the same number of job openings at the end of August as the month before. The hope on Wall Street had been for a number that’s neither too high nor too low, one balanced enough to keep the Fed on track to continue cutting interest rates.
The Fed just delivered its first cut of the year, and officials have penciled in more to give the job market a boost. But too-strong data on jobs could make the Fed less willing to cut rates, which would strengthen criticism that the U.S. stock market has become too expensive after prices ran so high. Too-weak numbers, meanwhile, could signal a coming recession, which would also hurt stock prices.
When Wall Street will get the next data reports on the job market is uncertain, though. A shutdown of the federal government would cause delays for several important reports,