Investors Shift Focus to Earnings After U.S. Lawmakers Delay Government Shutdown

Barry Adams
02 Oct, 2023
New York City

Market indexes traded down and the U.S. federal government narrowly averted a shutdown.

The S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite declined and caution prevailed in early trading in Monday's trading on Wall Street. 

The U.S. Congress passed a short-term spending plan that will fund various government programs for the next 45 days but deep divisions remain in the Republican controlled House over the level of funding and war efforts in Ukraine. 

For now, investors treated the latest spending plan as a stop-gap measure that postpones the finalization of the new fiscal year budget and debt levels. 

Investors are shifted attention to attention to the upcoming earnings release and banks are expected to report a rebound in earnings despite the rising interest rates. 

In September, the S&P 500 index registered its worst monthly decline in 2023 of 4.9% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 5.8%. 

In the third quarter, the S&P 500 index dropped 3.7% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 4.1%. 

Investors have been selling stocks since the market indexes reached this year's high in July but the S&P 500 index is still up about 12% in the year so-far. 

 

U.S. Indexes & Yields 

The S&P 500 index increased 0.6% to 4,326.15 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.1% to 13,353.24. 

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes increased to 5.11%, 10-year Treasury notes inched lower to 4.65% and 30-year Treasury bonds edged down to 4.77%. 

Crude oil increased $0.33 to $92.04 a barrel and natural gas prices decreased 5 cents to $2.89 a thermal unit. 

The dollar index edged higher to 105.88, the level last seen in November 2022 and extended gains from the low of 99.85 on July 13, 2023.  

 

U.S. Stock Movers 

Tesla Inc dropped 1.9% to $245.43 after the company said production in the third quarter declined because of the planned production shutdown. 

Electric vehicle deliveries in the third quarter increased to 466,140 units from 365,923 units and production rose to 365,923 from 343,820 a year ago. 

The company reiterated its full-year production outlook of 1.8 million units.