US stock futures rose after stocks hit fresh records with Wall Street fixated on the promise of AI even as the government shutdown drags on.
Futures attached to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F), the benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F), and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) all made gains of 0.2%.
Stocks on Thursday rose as the shutdown continued for a second day. Investors' hopes in AI soared as OpenAI's valuation climbed to $500 billion, making the company the most valuable startup in the world. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC), the S&P 500 (^GSPC), and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) all hit new records.
Wall Street would ordinarily be on edge for Friday's release of the September jobs report. However, the government shutdown is all but certain to delay the release of the data, leaving Wall Street in the dark. The next jobs report was especially anticipated as Federal Reserve policymakers have stressed job market weakness as a major factor in their decision on interest rates at their next meeting.
Meanwhile, the end of the government shutdown remains elusive. Democrats continue to push for the continuation of healthcare subsidies as a condition of funding the government, while Republicans refuse to negotiate on the issue until the government is back up and running. The Senate was out of session on Thursday in observance of Yom Kippur and is set to reconvene on Friday. At the same time, President Trump has continued to ramp up his threats to fire federal workers and defund projects in Democratic-leaning states.
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