Overview

• Federal services have closed after Congress failed to pass funding, and the release of official statistics is suspended, which could postpone Friday’s monthly jobs report.
• U.S. stocks eased in early Wednesday trading after the Dow closed at a record on Tuesday, while 10‑year Treasury yields slipped near 4.09% on softer private‑payroll signals.
• With official data on hold, investors leaned on partial indicators: JOLTS showed 7.227 million job openings in August and Conference Board confidence fell to the lowest since April.
• The ADP/Stanford report estimated private payrolls fell by 32,000 in September, reinforcing uncertainty over growth and the timing of further Fed rate cuts.
• Gold set fresh highs as investors sought safety and recalibrated rate expectations, while stock moves were driven by corporate headlines including Nike’s revenue beat, a U.S. plan to take 5% of Lithium Americas, Soitec’s CEO transition, and Carmat’s potential liquidation.