Wall Street inches down modestly in premarket after Trump signs bill ending US government shutdown

Wall Street inched slightly lower early Thursday after President Donald Trump signed a U.S. government funding bill, ending the record 43-day shutdown.

Futures for S&P 500, Dow Jones industrials and the Nasdaq all ticked down less than 0.1%, before the bell and ahead of the reopening of the federal government following a six-week standoff that caused financial stress for federal workers who went without paychecks, stranded scores of travelers at airports and generated long lines at some food banks.

“The shutdown had blocked not just spending, but also delayed a raft of federal economic data,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary, adding that “for markets, the only line that matters is simple: the lights are coming back on.”

The government shutdown has left investors and analysts without much of the data they rely on, so markets have leaned heavily into corporate earnings reports since Oct. 1. Though most high-profile companies have already reported their most recent financial results, some stragglers remain.

Walt Disney Co. shares slid close to 5% after it reported mixed fourth-quarter results as a weaker performance from its television networks and some films was offset by strength in its streaming business and theme parks.

Tech giant Cisco jumped 6.8% after it beat Wall Street forecasts and its own guidance, attributing the strong first-quarter results to growing AI infrastructure demand.

Elsewhere, in Europe at midday, Germany’s DAX slipped 0.5%, while the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.4%. Britain’s FTSE 100 retreated 0.8%.

Asian shares were also mostly higher. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% to 51,281.83. But market heavyweight and tech giant SoftBank Group lost another 3.4% on top of a 3.5% drop on Wednesday after the company said it had sold all of its shares in computer chip maker Nvidia.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.6% to 27,073.03, while the Shanghai Composite index jumped 0.7% to 4,029.50 as mainland stocks climbed ahead of updates on lending in China.

Australia’s S&P ASX 200 shed 0.5% to 8,753.40, falling for a third straight session as hopes for near-term interest rate cuts were quashed by strong jobs data that showed unemployment falling to 4.3% in October from 4.5% in September.

South Korea’s Kospi fluctuated between gains and losses, closing 0.5% higher to 4,170.63.

Taiwan’s Taiex index shed nearly 0.2% while India’s BSE Sensex added 0.2%.

In energy trading, U.S. benchmark crude oil picked up 40 cents to $58.89 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 41 cents to $63.12 per barrel.