By Teresa Rivas

Shutting Out the Shutdown. "Never put off until tomorrow what may be done the day after tomorrow," Mark Twain so wisely said. The market seems to have taken heed, delaying any worries about a looming Oct. 1 deadline to fu nd the federal government. That's a problem for Wednesday, maybe.

Today the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to its second-highest close in history. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite added 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively, for their third-highest ever closes.

To stocks' credit, it's hardly their first rodeo. There have been four federal shutdowns since 2013, and plenty of near misses. Moreover, stocks spent much of the past week edging lower, so perhaps a new week deserved some new optimism.

"Government shutdowns introduce a new layer of uncertainty for markets, but fortunately, they tend to be short-lived and, as a result, have had minimal impact on the economy," notes LPL Financial Chief Technical Strategist Adam Turnquist. "Investors have generally looked past budget-related disruptions, prioritizing corporate earnings, broader economic trends, and other key macroeconomic factors."

If a government shutdown does happen, and lasts beyond a few hours, it would delay the release of multiple key economic reports, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics' initial jobless claims data, due out Thursday and, more important, its jobs report for September, due on Friday.

The missing reports could be an issue given their importance to the Federal Reserve's rate-cut calculus.

"The payrolls numbers are not necessarily all that meaningful from a long-term investment point of view," notes Dave Sekera, Morningstar's chief U.S. market strategist, given large recent restatements. "But we have to talk about it because the market is so focused on it as the weakening labor market is the reason for the Fed to ease monetary policy and cut rates. It's the only payroll report they're going to see between now and the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting later this month."

For now, however, the market is looking on the sunny side.

The Hot Stock: Robinhood Markets +12.3% The Biggest Loser: Williams-Sonoma -4.7%

Best Sector: Technology +0.5% Worst Sector: Energy -1.8%

Smart Buys

Etsy made its name by providing personalized handcrafted items that users tailor to specific requirements. Now artificial intelligence can do the tailoring for them -- and sell them the recommended products.

On Monday, ChatGPT parent OpenAI announced that users will be able to buy Etsy items directly from its platform. It's just the first of some million Shopify-powered merchants, including Glossier, Skims, Spanx, and Vuori, that are in the pipeline and will soon be available.

Plenty of consumer-facing companies have been using AI to facilitate sales, whether it's Walmart's search function gathering everything you need for a child's birthday party or Expedia users getting travel suggestions drawn from their social media feeds. But buying directly from the AI platform is a first. Shares of Etsy and Shopify jumped on the news.

My colleague Sabrina Escobar writes:

The process should be seamless for shoppers, the company said. When a user asks a shopping question such as "recommend the best gifts for a runner," ChatGPT will link to relevant products across the web. Products that support Instant Checkout will let users buy directly on the chat.

Merchants pay a small fee on completed purchases, but the service is free for users, OpenAI said, adding that it won't affect consumer prices and that Instant Checkout items won't be preferred in product results.

Read more from Sabrina here.

The Calendar

Lamb Weston Holdings, Nike, and Paychex release earnings tomorrow.

S&P Cotality releases it Case-Shiller National Home Price Index for July. Home prices rose 1.9% year-over-year in June, led by New York, Chicago and Cleveland, among the 20 cities tracked by S&P. Prices rose 7%, 6.1%, and 4.5%, respectively, in those three cities. Tampa and San Francisco were the worst performing markets, with prices declining 2.4% and 2%.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The consensus call is for 7.1 million job openings on the last business day of August, 81,000 fewer than in July.

The Conference Board releases its Consumer Confidence Index for September. Economists forecast a 95.8 reading, about two points less than in August.

Funding for the U.S. government runs out at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday unless Congress can hammer out an agreement on a new budget or a stopgap funding bill. A government shutdown would affect the release of some economic data including the jobs report.

What We're Reading Today

   -- Mind the Gap Between Stocks and the Dollar 
 
   -- AI Race Kicks Up With Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4. 
 
   -- IPOs That Aren't Tech 
 
   -- Why Airport Delays Could Surge During a Shutdown 
 
   -- My Hard-Knocks Lesson in Private Investing 

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September 29, 2025 20:01 ET (00:01 GMT)

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