FX.co ★ Dow Extends Record High

On Friday, the S&P 500 concluded with minimal change, while the Dow Jones continued its impressive upward trend, gaining 240 points to close at 46,758 after briefly exceeding the 47,000 threshold during the session. Conversely, the Nasdaq experienced a decline of 0.3% as the U.S. government shutdown entered its third day. The decline was largely influenced by significant setbacks in major technology stocks, with Palantir Technologies driving the S&P 500 lower by a decrease of 7.5%. Tesla and Nvidia saw declines of 1.4% and 0.7% respectively. Meanwhile, Applied Materials faced a 2.7% drop following a warning of a $600 million dip in revenue due to semiconductor export restrictions. Investors remained focused on the government shutdown, which resulted in the postponement of the September jobs report and created a temporary lack of economic data ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting in October. Private data indicated a slowing labor market yet also supported the likelihood of another rate cut from the Federal Reserve later this month. Despite these challenges, all three major indexes are poised for significant weekly gains, with the S&P 500 rising by 1.1%, the Dow by 1%, and the Nasdaq by 0.5%.