'Desensitised to shocks': Markets shirk shutdown as Trump draws battle lines
The first US government shutdown in nearly seven years has so far failed to wobble global markets. But local investors, who drove a rally on the ASX today, will hope for a swift resolution.
The US government shutdown has injected a high dose of uncertainty into the country's public sector, but the dramatic standoff in Washington has been shrugged off by Wall Street. A knee-jerk selloff in US equities at the open during the first trading session since the shutdown commenced on Wednesday afternoon (Australian time) only lasted about an hour.
Each of the three main US indices marched to solid gains, with the S&P 500 finishing at a new record high. Benchmark indices across Europe and Asia climbed, while the ASX 200 is on track for its largest increase since August.
“There have been a lot of US government shutdowns and they generally get resolved after a short period – so the market is probably conscious of that,” Canaccord Genuity’s chief investment strategist Tony Brennan told Capital Brief.
“The other part is that with all the change this year from the Trump administration, the market is desensitised to shocks and surprises, and until or unless it gets really dire, it seems to be taking things in its stride.”
