Benzinga | Oct 04, 2013 10:03AM ET
The US began its fourth day without the functions of most of the Federal government while Congress continued to argue over an emergency spending bill.
President Obama canceled a trip to Indonesia and Brunei due to the shutdown, and several thousand government workers have been forced to take unpaid leave.
With the more significant battle over raising the US debt ceiling fast approaching, Congress has been looking to make a deal on the government’s emergency funding bill by negotiating a broader fiscal package that includes raising the debt ceiling. However, President Obama has said he won’t agree to terms for raising the country’s borrowing limit and warned Congress that they must pass it with no strings attached.
Top News
In other news around the markets:
Asian markets ended the week on a low with US shutdown worries weighing on sentiment. The Japanese NIKKEI lost 0.94 percent and Indonesia’s JSX composite was down 0.77 percent. Australia’s ASX 200 lost 0.51 percent and the New Zealand NZ 50 fell 0.23 percent
European Markets
Europe’s markets were mixed on Friday, the UK’s FTSE was down 0.21 percent and the eurozone’s STOXX 600 lost 0.24 percent. Italy’s MIB was helped by unexpectedly positive data and rose 0.57 percent and France’s CAC 40 had a slight gain of 0.16 percent.
Commodities
Energy futures were little changed on Friday, Brent futures fell 0.06 percent and WTI futures lost 0.07 percent. Gold was flat, silver lost 0.37 percent and industrial metals fell across the board; with aluminum down 0.60 percent and tin down 0.33 percent.
Currencies
The euro remained above $1.36 heading into the weekend and the dollar lost out to the yen, down 0.11 percent. The dollar gained 0.25 percent on the pound and lost 0.07 percent against the Australian dollar.
Earnings
Notable companies that reported earnings on Thursday included:Xyratex Ltd. (CCL ) continued its downward fall and lost 0.80 percent in pre-market trade.Earnings
No notable earnings reports expected on Friday
Economics
The economic calendar of Friday will be relatively quiet, with PPI data from India, Germany and the euro zone as a whole expected. The US government shutdown means the highly anticipated non-farm payrolls data will not be released.
By Laura Brodbeck
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