- Stocks sold off in Asia this morning and Europe ticked down as well. U.S. futures were marginally down before the bell following yesterday’s 0.28% decline in the S&P 500. Analysts pointed to the U.S. government shutdown, where a resolution is nowhere in sight, with some no longer seeing two further rate cuts from the Fed coming this year.
It’s not chaos, but it’s not good: The S&P 500 lost 0.28% yesterday, and futures this morning are flat—suggesting that traders are unenthusiastic about bidding the market higher. Meanwhile, markets lost ground right across Asia. China’s CSI 300 closed down nearly 2% after the government there announced strict new export controls on rare earth materials. The controls will hobble both U.S. tech companies that rely on them for semiconductor chips and Chinese companies that supply them.
