MARKET SNAPSHOT

Major U.S. stock indexes rose as investors awaited a likely government shutdown this week. Shutdown fears weighed on the U.S. dollar and cut Treasury yields. Oil futures fell after a media report suggesting OPEC+ is planning to boost production. Gold rose to a new record high.

MARKET WRAPS

EQUITIES

Stocks rose as investors largely looked past a likely government shutdown looming midweek.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%, the S&P 500 gained 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite increased 0.5%.

President Trump was to meet with congressional leaders for last-minute talks ahead of a Senate revote on a funding extension Democrats previously rejected. There is little optimism. Prediction markets put the risk of a shutdown at over 70%. Barclays analysts say one would likely last at least five days and could continue for an extended period.

Earlier Monday, markets in Asia mostly rose.

China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.9%, the Shenzhen Composite Index increased 1.5%, and the ChiNext Price Index climbed 2.7%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.9%.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.7%.

Stocks in Australia rose, as the S&P/ASX 200 Benchmark Index gained 0.9%.

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 Index increased 0.2%.

COMMODITIES

Sanctions placed on Iranian oil by the EU were overshadowed by reports of OPEC+ increasing the production coming out of member oil refineries.

"It appears that the market wants to believe that OPEC is going to flood the market," said Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group in a note.

Some 137,000 new barrels of oil a day are expected to come onto the market from this production increase, said Flynn -- although he questions how reliable these reports are.

"The market seems to get these headlines every time oil is ready to break out on the upside," Flynn said.

Front month Nymex Crude prices settled down 3.5% to $63.45 a barrel. Brent Crude fell 3.1% to $67.97 a barrel.

Front-month Comex gold for October delivery gained 1.2% to $3820.90 - a new record high.

TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES

Democrats Head to Trump Meeting as Shutdown Deadline Nears

WASHINGTON-Democratic and Republican congressional leaders headed to the White House on Monday afternoon with little incentive-or time-to reach a deal avoiding a government shutdown, less than 48 hours before federal funding lapses and agencies partially close.

President Trump agreed to the meeting over the weekend after canceling an earlier planned sit-down, but the White House and congressional Republicans signaled little change in their stances and have strong political reasons not to give ground. Republicans want to pass a seven-week stopgap spending bill before cutting any deals, while Democrats are insisting on billions in healthcare funding before they will sign on to a GOP plan, urged on by party voters.

Raising the stakes, the White House budget director, Russ Vought, instructed agencies to draw up lists of employees to fire if funding lapses, beyond the temporary furloughs and missed paychecks typical of past shutdowns. The government will partially shut down Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. if Congress can't pass a short-term spending patch.

Housing market shows sudden strength as buyers take advantage of falling mortgage rates

Pending home sales jumped in August to a five-month high as some buyers returned to the market on the back of a big drop in mortgage rates.

Contract signings in the U.S. rose 4% in August from the previous month, according to a monthly index released Monday by the National Association of Realtors.

Pending home sales rose to the highest level since March 2025. Sales are also up 3.8% from the same month a year ago.

Vail Resorts Loss Widens as Pass Product Unit Sales Fall

Vail Resorts had a wider loss in its latest quarter as pass product sales for the upcoming ski season declined.

The ski-resort operator on Monday posted a loss of $185.5 million, or $5.08 a share, compared with a loss of $176.6 million, or $4.70 a share, for the same period a year earlier. Analysts polled by FactSet expected a per-share loss of $4.72.

Revenue rose to $271.3 million from $265.4 million in the year-ago period. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $274.4 million.

Electronic Arts Goes Private for $55 Billion in Largest LBO Ever

Videogame maker Electronic Arts said it would go private in a $55 billion deal with a group of investors including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, private-equity firm Silver Lake and Jared Kushner's investment firm Affinity Partners.

The deal represents the largest leveraged buyout of all time, eclipsing a record set in 2007.

Electronic Arts publishes The Sims, football game Madden NFL and FIFA, the soccer videogame now known as FC. It has been boosted by sales of its marquee sports games and is expected to release "Battlefield 6," the latest edition of its popular shooting game.

OpenAI's New Sora Video Generator to Require Copyright Holders to Opt Out

OpenAI is planning to release a new version of its Sora video generator that creates videos featuring copyright material unless copyright holders opt out of having their work appear, according to people familiar with the matter.

OpenAI began alerting talent agencies and studios about the forthcoming product and its opt-out process over the last week and plans to release the new version in the coming days, the people said.

The opt-out process for the new version of Sora means that movie studios and other intellectual property owners would have to explicitly ask OpenAI not to include their copyright material in videos the tool creates.

Auto Supplier First Brands Files for Bankruptcy Amid Accounting Questions

First Brands Group filed for bankruptcy Monday, threatening big losses for Wall Street lenders after the market lost confidence in the auto-supplier's financial disclosures and use of off-balance-sheet debt.

The closely held company's lenders and independent board directors are now probing whether First Brands made misrepresentations in its financial reporting, people familiar with the matter said. The bankruptcy filing capped a swift unraveling for First Brands that has riveted Wall Street and fueled concerns that frothy markets are concealing underlying weakness in corporate borrowers and insufficiently compensating investors for risk.

WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported last week that First Brands, the company behind products such as Fram oil filters and Anco windshield wipers, was preparing for chapter 11 after prices on its corporate loans cratered in recent weeks. First Brands relied heavily on accounts-receivable-backed financing, supplying automotive products to customers on delayed payment terms and borrowing from outside investors against the billed receivables.

Expected Major Events for Tuesday

00:00/NZ: Sep ANZ Business Outlook

01:00/JPN: Aug Steel Imports & Exports Statistics

01:00/PHI: Aug External Trade Performance

01:30/AUS: Aug Financial Aggregates, incl Private Sector Credit

01:30/CHN: Sep CFLP China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index $(PMI)$

01:30/CHN: Sep CFLP China Non-Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI)

01:30/AUS: Aug Building Approvals

01:45/CHN: Sep China Manufacturing PMI

01:45/CHN: Sep China Services PMI

02:00/SIN: Aug Money Supply

02:00/SIN: Aug Bank Loans

03:00/SKA: Aug New deposit, loan rates

04:30/AUS: Reserve Bank of Australia monetary policy decision

04:30/JPN: Aug Preliminary Report on Petroleum Statistics

05:00/JPN: Aug Housing Starts

05:00/JPN: Aug Construction Orders

06:30/AUS: Aug International Reserves & Foreign Currency Liquidity

07:00/THA: Aug Industrial Production Index

07:00/MAL: Aug Money Supply

08:15/HK: Aug Money Supply

09:59/PHI: Aug Money Supply (M3)

09:59/HK: Aug Tourism figures

21:45/NZ: Aug Building Consents Issued

23:00/AUS: Sep Australia Manufacturing PMI

23:00/AUS: Sep Australian PMI

23:00/AUS: Sep Australian PCI

23:50/JPN: 3Q Tankan Survey of Enterprises in Japan

00:00/SKA: Sep Trade data

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 29, 2025 16:57 ET (20:57 GMT)

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