Risk appetite looks to pick up as US government shutdown sees potential end | investingLive

The big news since the weekend is that we might be seeing the potential end to the US government shutdown. The Senate moved to approve the first vote for that to happen here, which now throws the ball back over to the House’s court. As a reminder, it’s been 40 days that the US government has closed down – with this being the longest one on record.

As things stand, House members are now notified that votes related to government funding are expected in the lower chamber some time this week. That after the Senate gets the funding measure past the final passage. Senate members will reconvene again later today at 1600 GMT.

US futures are sitting higher as such, with S&P 500 futures now up 0.8%. I mentioned last week that pointing fingers to the shutdown as being a key driver for the drag in the risk mood is not something I’d be inclined to do, and the same goes for any buying on the end of the shutdown.

However, the pick up in risk appetite on Friday because of that and what we’re seeing today certainly argues for it. But I would say, it’s more to do perhaps with alleviating funding/liquidity stress in markets. So in some convoluted way, the shutdown does matter – at least because of how long it has ran.

In other markets, the dollar is mixed with USD/JPY holding higher near 154.00 but perhaps owes to a weaker yen mostly. Japanese prime minister Takaichi continues to spread her wings as the big fiscal dove she is and that is weighing on the currency. Besides that, the aussie is leading amid risk gains with AUD/USD up 0.5% to back above 0.6520.

Meanwhile, we’re also seeing Bitcoin recover in surviving yet another test of the $100,000 mark to be up above $106,000 today. So, that’s another risk positive sign.

And after a bit of consolidation, it seems like dip buyers in gold are coming back in again with price nudging up to $4,053 – its highest in two weeks. As risk appetite picks up, it seems like dip buyers are also feeling more free. That is definitely an interesting point to be wary of.