What’s New
Wall Street futures fell this week as a possible shutdown of the government looms before Christmas, while lawmakers discuss a temporary spending bill.
S&P 500 futures fell 1 percent ahead of the opening bell, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 0.6 percent.
Why It Matters
Lawmakers fell short of the two-thirds majority required to pass the measure before Friday’s midnight deadline. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson emphasized that he and fellow Republicans were committed to regrouping and finding an alternative solution to prevent a government shutdown.
The vote marked a significant setback for President-elect Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk, who had criticized Johnson’s bipartisan deal—an agreement between Republicans and Democrats aimed at averting a government shutdown during the holiday season.
Thursday night’s deadlock may signal the turbulence to come when Trump returns to the White House with Republicans controlling both the House and Senate. During his first term, Trump oversaw the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, which began during the 2018 Christmas season.
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What To Know
FedEx shares surged 9 percent in premarket trading Friday after the package delivery giant narrowly exceeded second-quarter profit expectations and revealed plans to spin off its freight division into a separate publicly traded company. Nike shares dropped 4.2 percent after the company lowered its guidance for the current quarter, while U.S. Steel fell 7 percent following a negative preannouncement for its fourth-quarter results.
Investors are also watching for U.S. personal spending data for November, set to be released later today.
By midday in Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.9 percent, France’s CAC 40 fell 1.2 percent, and Germany’s DAX dropped 1.5 percent.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.3 percent to close at 38,701.90 on Friday following the release of November inflation data. Japan’s core inflation rate, which excludes fresh food prices, climbed 2.7 percent year-over-year, beating analysts’ expectations.
U.S. benchmark crude slipped 45 cents to $68.93 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, dropped 41 cents to $72.47 per barrel.
What People Are Saying
In a note to clients this week, High Frequency Economics’ Carl B. Weinberg said, “Next year will be a time of huge challenges to the world economy.”
Weinberg referenced political uncertainty in the U.S. and the possibility of trade disagreements saying “We do not look forward to these changes.”
What’s Next
On Thursday, 38 Republicans voted against a spending bill backed by Trump in the House of Representatives that planned to avert a government shutdown. The bill failed by a vote of 174-235.
Government funding is set to lapse on Friday night at midnight so lawmakers are expected to meet again on Friday morning to try to pass legislation to avoid government shutdown, according to the BBC. This comes after a bipartisan agreement for funding was also vetoed in Congress on Wednesday.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
