{"id":181604,"date":"2025-10-01T03:37:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T03:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/181604\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T03:37:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T03:37:07","slug":"asian-shares-are-mixed-as-markets-shrug-off-a-likely-us-government-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/181604\/","title":{"rendered":"Asian shares are mixed as markets shrug off a likely US government shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Shares were mixed in Asia on Wednesday, with Chinese markets closed for a weeklong holiday, as a U.S. government shutdown<\/a> loomed.<\/p>\n

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index shed 1.2% to 44,411.26 after the Bank of Japan reported a slight improvement in business sentiment among major manufacturers.<\/p>\n

The BOJ’s quarterly tankan<\/a> adds to the likelihood the central bank will raise its key interest rate soon, to counter inflation that has topped its target range of about 2% for some time.<\/p>\n

Political uncertainty<\/a> is also looming over Japan’s markets, with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party due to chose a new leader and prime minister later this week to replace embattled Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.<\/p>\n

Although markets and offices in mainland China are closed Oct. 1-8 for the National Day holiday, China’s central bank said it plans a 1.1 trillion yuan ($160 billion) reverse repo operation on Oct. 9, to increase the amount of cash in circulation and stimulate consumer spending and business investment.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.8% to 3,450.62, while Taiwan’s Taiex added 1.3% on heavy buying of semiconductor-related shares.<\/p>\n

Australia’s S&P\/ASX 200 slipped 0.4% to 8,812.90.<\/p>\n

Markets appeared to be taking a potential shutdown of the U.S. government in stride ahead of a midnight U.S. Eastern time deadline. Past U.S. government shutdowns<\/a> have had a limited impact on the economy and stock market, and many investors expect something similar this time around.<\/p>\n

Many economists and professional investors expect something similar this time around.<\/p>\n

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% to 6,688.46 to close out its fifth straight winning month after setting a record last week<\/a>. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%, to set its own all-time high at 46,397.89.<\/p>\n

The Nasdaq composite ticked 0.3% higher to 22,660.01.<\/p>\n

This shutdown could be different, with the White House prone to push for large-scale firings of federal workers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The broad stock market has been on a nearly relentless run since hitting a low in April <\/a> on expectations that President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s tariffs won\u2019t derail global trade and that the Federal Reserve will cut<\/a> interest rates several times to boost the slowing job market<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Treasury yields wavered in the bond market but ultimately held relatively steady following mixed reports on the U.S. economy. One said consumers are feeling less confident <\/a> than economists expected, with many respondents in the Conference Board\u2019s survey pointing to the job market and to inflation that has remained higher <\/a> than anyone would like.<\/p>\n

A second report suggested the job market may be remaining in its \u201clow-hire, low-fire\u201d state. U.S. employers were advertising roughly the same number of job openings <\/a> at the end of August as the month before. The hope on Wall Street had been for a number that\u2019s neither too high nor too low, one balanced enough to keep the Fed on track to continue cutting interest rates.<\/p>\n

The Fed just delivered its first cut of the year<\/a>, and officials have penciled in more to give the job market a boost.<\/p>\n

When Wall Street will get the next data reports on the job market is uncertain, since a government shutdown would cause delays for several important reports, including Friday\u2019s on how many jobs U.S. employers created and destroyed in September.<\/p>\n

The Department of Labor has said that the Bureau of Labor Statistics will completely cease operations if there\u2019s a lapse. The agency already was strained by Trump’s firing of Erika McEntarfer as BLS commissioner on Aug. 1<\/a> after the July jobs report showed a rapid slowdown in hiring, with job gains in May and June revised much lower than initially estimated.<\/p>\n

Late Tuesday, the White House was withdrawing the nomination of E.J. Antoni<\/a> to lead the bureau, according to an AP source who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a White House action that hadn’t been publicly announced.<\/p>\n

Oil-related companies weighed on the market as the price of crude fell again as traders see too much oil washing around the world. Baker Hughes sank 3.6%, and Schlumberger fell 2.1%.<\/p>\n

Early Wednesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil was up 11 cents at $62.48 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 12 cents to $66.15 per barrel.<\/p>\n

The U.S. dollar rose to 147.98 Japanese yen from 147.94 yen. The euro inched up to $1.1738 from $1.1734.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shares were mixed in Asia on Wednesday, with Chinese markets closed for a weeklong holiday, as a U.S.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[18230,45,49,48,91839,90811,2454,11237,100,12921,862,121,1971],"class_list":["post-181604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-markets","tag-bank-of-japan","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-chinese-markets-closed","tag-government-shutdown","tag-japan","tag-liberal-democratic-party","tag-markets","tag-nikkei-225-index","tag-president-donald-trump","tag-stock-market","tag-white-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}