US stock futures drifted higher on Friday after hitting fresh records, with Wall Street fixated on the promise of AI even as the government shutdown drags on and delayed the release of the monthly jobs report.
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 around 0.1%.
Wall Street would ordinarily be on edge for Friday’s release of the September jobs report. However, the government shutdown delayed the release of the data, leaving Wall Street in the dark even as some lawmakers — most notably Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren — have called for the Trump administration to proceed with publishing it.
This jobs report has been 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 and beyond. In its absence, Wall Street has turned to a bevy of private data this week that has confirmed the labor market’s sharp slowdown.
But even amid the unanswered questions on the health of the US economy, stocks keep rising to new records, largely on the back of continued AI fervor. OpenAI’s valuation climbed to $500 billion, making the company the most valuable startup in the world.
On Friday, new AI deals boosted optimism. Hitachi LTD (6501.T) teamed up with OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) on energy projects, while Fujitsu (6501.T) expanded work with Nvidia (NVDA).
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. 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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