Trade Secrets

WTF Dailies October 02, 2025

US stock futures ticked up as Wall Street's renewed confidence in the Federal Reserve instituting more rate cuts this year so far overshadowed a US government shutdown with no end in sight.

Sage Kakkat

01 Oct 2025 — 6 min read

US stock futures ticked up as Wall Street's renewed confidence in the Federal Reserve instituting more rate cuts this year so far overshadowed a US government shutdown with no end in sight.
Weak ADP jobs data confirmed signals a labor slowdown is afoot, cementing bets that more interest rates will land this year despite sticky inflation. The jobs numbers so far distracted markets from the government shutdown, which is set to drag on at least until the end of the week. On Wednesday, the Senate again rejected both Republican and Democratic bills to fund the government. The Senate will be out Thursday in observance of Yom Kippur, making Friday the next chance to hold a vote on funding.
In the meantime, Republicans are pressuring Democrats to reopen the government and then negotiate over the expiration of healthcare subsidies at the heart of the shutdown. Democrats, however, want movement on the subsidies as a condition of funding. Reports have emerged that a bipartisan group of lawmakers are having very preliminary discussions over a possible offramp to the shutdown.
With the shutdown set to extend to Friday, the release of the September jobs report is all but certain to be delayed given the Bureau of Labor Statistics was set to completely cease operations in the event of a stoppage. The timing of the delay is in high focus for Wall Street as Fed policymakers have indicated cracks in the labor market will loom large in their next interest rate decision, which is set for the end of this month.
At the same time, the White House has indicated it plans to make good on President Trump's threat to fire federal workers during a shutdown in the next day or two. The president has also warned that he will to use expanded powers during a stoppage to cut government programs.
Asian stocks advanced on Thursday on strength in technology and healthcare, with South Korean shares hitting record highs as local chipmakers rallied on optimism over more artificial intelligence development.
Regional trading volumes remained muted on account of a week-long holiday in mainland Chinese markets. Indian markets were also closed for a holiday.
Asian markets tracked some overnight strength in Wall Street, as investors largely looked past a U.S. government shutdown. The S&P 500 ended at a record high on support from healthcare and tech.
South Korea’s KOSPI was by far the best performer in Asian trade, rallying 3% to a record high of 3,565.71 points.
SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KS:005930) were the top boosts to the index, after they signed a preliminary deal to supply chips to artificial intelligence major OpenAI. The two will also build data centers with OpenAI in South Korea. SK Hynix jumped 11% to a record high, while Samsung rallied 4.5% to a near six-year peak. The two are the largest memory chip makers in the world, and will provide advanced memory for OpenAI’s Stargate venture– a $500 billion project to build data centers in the United States.
Strength in tech helped investors largely look past stronger-than-expected South Korean consumer price index inflation data, which could dent the Bank of Korea’s plans to cut interest rates further.
Gains in chips and tech helped Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rally 1.4%. The index was also boosted by gains in Chinese electric vehicle makers, which advanced on some positive third-quarter delivery figures from the sector.
Singapore’s Straits Times index rose 1.1%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index added 0.3% on some strength in tech, while the TOPIX fell 0.1% after strong gains in the prior session.
Australia’s ASX 200 rose 1.1% on Thursday, buoyed by strength in local mining stocks.
The U.S. government has offered to buy equity in Australian critical mineral companies to expand supply and cut its reliance on China, Reuters reported on Thursday. The report comes as the White House took stakes in several U.S. companies this year to boost competitiveness and local supply chains.
The report boosted critical mineral stocks, especially those with exposure to lithium, cobalt, and rare earths. Broader mining and mineral stocks also advanced.
Investors largely looked past data showing a sharp, outsized decline in Australia’s trade balance in August.
After sliding for eight consecutive sessions, India's sensex on Wednesday rallied 716 points or 0.9% to close at 80,983 points even as RBI maintained status quo on interest rates. After a slow start to the session, the index gained pace in the late session, and banks led the gainers.Bank stocks rallied as the central bank announced a host of decisions beneficial to the banking and other sectors including increasing the limits to lending against shares, reducing risk weights for NBFCs for infra projects and relaxing exposure norms for capital markets.
Up 716 in a dayOn the NSE, Nifty rallied in the late session and closed 225 points or 0.9% higher at 24,836 points.Among the sensex constituents, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Kotak Bank contributed the most to the day’s rally. RBI’s rate-setting committee left interest rate unchanged, but raised India’s expected GDP growth rate for FY26, which was a positive for the investors on Dalal Street.On Wednesday, RBI made a five-fold increase to the upper limit for loan against shares to Rs 1 crore per person. It increased the maximum limit for financing of IPOs by 2.5 times to Rs 25 lakh per person. The central bank also removed the ceiling on lending against listed debt securities.

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