US pre-open: Futures jump as Senate passes deal to end shutdown

(Sharecast News) - US stocks were looking to bounce back on Monday after last week's losses on the back of hopes that the government shutdown may soon come to an end. Futures on the Dow were trading 0.3% higher in pre-market deals, while the S&P 500 gained 0.8% - rebounding after slumping 0.8% and 1.7% over the past five days, respectively.

Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq - currently at its lowest since 23 October on Friday after dropping 3.7% last week on concerns about stretched valuations in the AI and chip sectors - was surging 1.4% ahead of the opening bell.

Tech futures were rising strongly, including all Magnificent Seven giants - Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Tesla, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and NVIDIA - making decent gains.

"Hopes of an imminent end to the US government shutdown sent stock markets higher after a bruising week for tech amid an AI-related crisis of confidence hobbled the broader market," said Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Markets.

On Sunday, the Senate took a vote on a deal to end the shutdown, with Republicans - who hold a 53-47 majority - clearing the 60-vote minimum threshold through the support of eight votes from Democrat defectors. However, the deal will still need to pass a vote from the House of Representatives before public-sector employees can return to work.

The shutdown - the longest in American history, now at 41 days - has caused a governmental data blackout since the start of October, though private consumer confidence figures last week revealed that sentiment had sunk to its lowest in more than three years, closing in on record-low levels.

"The deal being voted on would fund the government through to January... apart from confidence it could mean we start to get a chunk of missing economic data, which may introduce some extra volatility," Wilson said.

Also helping the mood on Monday was the news that China had suspended export restrictions announced last month on certain rare earth minerals and other items, following a meeting between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump on 30 October.