Stocks rise, dollar dips with focus on labor market, US government reopening
A man walks past a brokerage house, as an electronic board displays stock index information graph, in the Central Business District (CBD) in Beijing, China, October 13, 2025. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
NEW YORK/LONDON :MSCI's global equities index rose modestly on Tuesday as investors looked forward to an end to the U.S. government shutdown, while the dollar dipped on concerns about U.S. labor market weakness.
The U.S. Senate passed a deal on Monday to restore federal funding after a record-long shutdown that has disrupted food benefits for millions, left hundreds of thousands of federal workers unpaid, snarled air traffic, and delayed the release of government economic data.
The deal still needs approval in the House of Representatives, where Speaker Mike Johnson has said he wants a vote as soon as Wednesday. It will then go to U.S. President Donald Trump to be signed into law.
Wall Street had a muted start to Tuesday's session, after a sharp rally on Monday, but gathered steam as the day wore on. The heavyweight Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF edged lower as investors stepped back from some companies that have benefited from interest in AI technology. It pared earlier losses but Nvidia remained the biggest drag on the S&P 500, closing down almost 3 per cent after Japan's SoftBank Group said it had sold its entire stake in the AI chip leader in October.
"In the morning, there was negative sentiment around either jobs or the SoftBank sale," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer of Northlight Asset Management in Charlotte, North Carolina. However, he noted that the market regained ground as investors bet that the economy was still solid.
"People are going in and buying the dip because if we don't go into a recession, then this bull market's going to continue," he said.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 559.33 points, or 1.18 per cent, to 47,927.96, marking a record closing high. The S&P 500 rose 14.19 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 6,846.62 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 58.87 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 23,468.30.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 4.15 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 1,009.12.
Earlier, the pan-European STOXX 600 index closed up 1.28 per cent, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index finished up 1.31 per cent.
The U.S. Treasury market was closed for Veterans Day.
In currencies, the U.S. dollar weakened against the euro and yen on concerns about a deteriorating U.S. labor market after an ADP report showed private employers shed an average of 11,250 jobs a week in the four weeks ended October 25.
After the private sector jobs data, traders were pricing in a 67.4 per cent probability that the Federal Reserve would cut rates by 25 basis points in December, up from 62.4 per cent on Monday, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.19 per cent to 99.45, with the euro up 0.23 per cent at $1.1583.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.01 per cent to 154.12.
In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin fell 2.70 per cent to $102,759.31.
In the energy markets, oil prices rose around $1 on the impact of the latest U.S. sanctions on Russian oil and optimism around the potential reopening of the U.S. government, although oversupply concerns limited gains.
U.S. crude settled up 1.5 per cent, or 91 cents, at $61.04 a barrel while Brent settled at $65.16 per barrel, up 1.72 per cent or $1.10 on the day.
In precious metals, gold prices rose slightly after hitting a nearly three-week high, bolstered by expectations the U.S. government would reopen and resume releases of economic data that could potentially set the stage for the Federal Reserve to trim interest rates next month.
Spot gold rose 0.31 per cent to $4,128.56 an ounce. U.S. gold futures rose 0.28 per cent to $4,123.50 an ounce.
