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Wall Street nudged past yesterday’s record highs in early trading Friday as investors continue to shrug off the U.S. government shutdown, now in its third day.Futures for S&P 500, Nasdaq and the Dow Jones Industrial Average all added 0.2% before the bell. All three closed at record levels on Thursday, boosted by gains of chipmakers and artificial intelligence companies.Markets have largely ignored the shutdown of the U.S. government after Democrat and Republican lawmakers failed to reach agreement on funding.U.S. President Donald Trump and congressional leaders were not expected to meet again soon and the Democrats have held fast to their demands to preserve health care funding, warning of price spikes for millions of Americans nationwide.The government shutdown means this week’s usual report on jobless claims was delayed. An even more consequential report, the monthly tally of jobs gains and losses that usually comes out the first Friday of every month, will also not arrive as scheduled.That increases uncertainty when much on Wall Street is riding on investors’ expectation that the job market is slowing by enough to convince the Federal Reserve to keep cutting interest rates, but not by so much that it leads to a recession.So far, the U.S. stock market has looked past the delays of such data. Shutdowns of the U.S. government have tended not to hurt the economy or stock market much, and the thinking is that this one could be similar, even if Trump has threatened large-scale firings of federal workers this time around.Excitement around AI and the massive spending underway because of it are a major reason the U.S. stock market has hit record after record, along with hopes for easier interest rates. But AI stocks have become so dominant, and so much money has poured into the industry that worries are rising about a potential bubble that could eventually lead to disappointment for investors.At midday in Europe, Germany’s DAX ticked down 0.2% and the CAC 40 in Paris fell back 0.1%. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.6%.In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed nearly 1.9% higher at 45,769.50 as tech stocks gained despite data showing Japan’s unemployment rate rose 2.6% in August, the highest in 13 months and above the expected 2.4%.Shares in Hitachi jumped 10.3% after it signed a memorandum of understanding with OpenAI to provide cooling systems for its data centers.Stock exchanges in China and South Korea were closed Friday for holidays.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng won back some earlier losses, ending 0.5% down to 27,140.92 as traders sold to lock in profits from Thursday’s gains.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added nearly 0.5% to 8,987.40. India’s BSE Sensex rose less than 0.1%, while Taiwan’s Taiex edged 0.9% higher.In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude added 17 cents to $60.65 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 21 cents to $64.32 per barrel. Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said Friday that unpredictable change is inevitable and central banks need to be aware of that and have strategies to operate in those environments. Williams’ comments, which came in prepared remarks for an event in Amsterdam, did not address the outlook for U.S. monetary policy. Williams serves as vice chair of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, which cut interest rates last month as officials sought to offset rising risks to the job market. Unpredictable change and uncertainty will certainly continue to be with us for the foreseeable future, Williams said, flagging issues like the effects of ongoing global demographic shifts, artificial intelligence, and potentially transformative innovations in our financial systems. Williams said dealing with uncertainty means that central banks need robust principles and strategies in place that can deal with a range of contingencies, while noting there will still be novel situations to deal with. Williams also said that formerly unconventional strategies like bond buying are no longer novel and are a normal part of the toolkit. Williams said anchoring inflation expectations is critical and cannot be taken for granted. Michael S. Derby, Reuters
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E-Commerce
Investors in quantum computing stocks are having another great week, with shares in the major publicly traded firms up by double digits over the last 24 hours in most cases. Here’s a snapshot of their single-day growth as of the closing bell on Thursday: Rigetti Computing (Nasdaq: RGTI): Up 18.25% D-Wave Quantum Inc (NYSE: QBTS): Up 13.97% IONQ Inc (NYSE: IONQ): Up 10.32% Quantum Computing Inc (Nasdaq: QUBT): 5;32% All four companies were also up in premarket trading on Friday as of this writing. Why are quantum computing stocks rising this week? The rally is apparently being led in part by Berkeley, California-based Rigetti, which announced a major purchase order on Tuesday for two of its 9-qubit Novera quantum computing systems, which are used in research and development. Rigetti introduced the systems in 2023 and says they’re upgradable, meaning the qubit count can be increased. Qubits, or quantum bits, are the basic units on which quantum computers operate. Delivery of Rigetti’s two systems are expected by early next year. The purchase order totaled $5.7 million, the company said. While that might not seem like a giant sum, it’s another sign that somebody, somewhere sees practical uses for quantum computing technology, which has remained largely theoretical until relatively recently. Rigetti did not say who purchased the systems, only that one customer was an Asian company that builds manufacturing tech and the other was an AI startup based in California. Craig Ellis, an analyst at B. Riley Financial, also recently reiterated his Buy rating for Rigetti, as Motley Fool reported. In addition to Rigetti’s announcement, D-Wave announced the results of a “proof-of-technology” joint project with the North Wales Police in the U.K. The project leveraged hybrid quantum technology to help optimize the placement of police vehicles. “The hybrid-quantum technology delivered a faster, more accurate, and more efficient solution than classical methods alone, providing NWP with the ability to reduce the average incident response time by nearly 50%,” D-Wave said in its press release. Quantum computing shares have had a wild ride this year Publicly traded quantum computing firms began to captivate investors late last year as reports of the technology’s potential capabilities started to make headlines. Rigetti, which was essentially a penny stock one year ago, has seen its shares increase by a staggering 4,620% over the last 12 months. The stock was trading at $35.40 a share as of Thursday’s close. D-Wave, whose CEO has vocally pushed back against claims that commercial quantum computers are still decades away, has likewise seen its shares rise by 3,075% over that same period. Should such wild growth give investors pause? Well, probably. Although many experts believe that quantum computing is a bonafide technical revolution that could transform the industry and the world, the sector remains highly speculative at present. It’s not hard to find critics who contend that these stocks are overvalued. Time will tell.
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E-Commerce
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