Wall Street pushed higher early Monday despite growing anxiety over a possible U.S. government shutdown later this week.
Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.5% before the bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%. Nasdaq futures climbed 0.6%.
Prospects for a last-minute compromise between Republicans and Democrats appear rather bleak, with government funding set to run out Wednesday. Such political impasses have had limited impact on the market before, though a shutdown could delay the release of government data that traders, economists and the Federal Reserve rely on for clues about how the U.S. economy is faring.
The government is scheduled to release its comprehensive September jobs report on Friday. The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark lending rate earlier this month largely due to concern about a cooling labor market, though officials are still paying close attention to inflation, which has remained above the U.S. central bank’s 2% target.
On Friday, stocks got some help from the report showing inflation in the United States accelerated to 2.7% last month from 2.6% in July, offering some hope that the Fed could continue cutting interest rates in order to give the economy a boost.
One factor threatening to push inflation higher, adding to consumer woes, is President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and he announced more late Thursday. They include taxes on imports of some pharmaceutical drugs, kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, upholstered furniture and heavy trucks starting on Oct. 1.
In equities trading Monday, shares of British pharmaceutical giant GSK rose 2.8% after the company announced CEO Emma Walmsley will step down Dec. 31 after more than eight years leading the London-based drugmaker.
Luke Miels, currently GSK’s chief commercial officer, will replace the 56-year-old Walmsley, who was the first woman to lead a major pharmaceutical company.
Shares of Electronic Arts jumped 5.7% after it agreed to go private in a $55 billion buyout.
In Europe at midday, the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.2%, while Britain’s FTSE picked up 0.4%. The German DAX was unchanged.
In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was the regional outlier, giving up 0.7% to 45,043.75.
Chinese markets advanced, with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong adding 0.9% to 26,622.88, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.9% to 3,862.53.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.9% to 8,862.80, while the Kospi in South Korea surged 1.3% to 3,431.21.
China factory data are due out on Tuesday and a quarterly business sentiment survey by the Bank of Japan comes on Wednesday.
In energy trading early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost $1.29, nearly 2%, to $64.43 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, declined $1.25 to $67.97 per barrel.
Reports that the OPEC plus oil producing nations might raise their production limits next month have added to worries over oversupply, analysts said.
Gold rose 1.2% to a record $3,854.60 an ounce.
—Elaine Kurtenbach and Matt Ott, AP Business Writers
