Stocks up as US shutdown nears ending; niggles over tech persist

Global shares edged up on Tuesday, nudged by a sense of relief at the imminent end of the US government shutdown, though gains were tempered by nagging worries about valuations in the technology sector, while the dollar held firm.

- 

European shares rose for a second day, fuelled in part by gains in London's FTSE IOO. It hit record highs as the pound fell following British employment data that gave investors more confidence in the chances of a growth-boosting rate cut from the Bank of England next month.

The US Senate passed a deal on Monday that would restore federal funding after the longest shutdown on record. It will also release a raft of economic data on anything from jobs to industrial production, which could inject some volatility into markets.

“Obviously, the shutdown isn’t completely sorted yet. The House has got to get it through, but given the arithmetic of the House, that seems pretty certain,” Investec chief economist Philip Shaw said, referring to the Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

“The data deluge is going to be essentially a huge market event. One question is whether the data and the analysis by the Fed are consistent with each other.”

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates at its most recent meeting, but Chair Jerome Powell cautioned against assuming another cut in December is a given, not least because of the uncertainty over what key data on employment and inflation might show.