On Thursday, global stocks are set to reclaim record highs as the longest U.S. government shutdown in history comes to an end, while the increasingly pressured yen hit a historic low against the euro and slid to a nine-month trough versus the dollar.
European indices opened steady, with France’s CAC 40 surging nearly 1%, pushing both benchmarks toward all-time peaks and offsetting a more than 4% drop in shares of German engineering giant Siemens following disappointing earnings.
The MSCI Inc’s 47-country global index rose for a fourth consecutive session, now less than 4 points away from October’s record high, while U.S. stock futures edged between slight losses and a 0.2% gain.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed a bill on Wednesday in the Oval Office to end the government shutdown.
Delayed economic data releases are expected to resume next week, with October’s payroll figures likely to lead the pack. The focus will be on whether these figures corroborate private surveys indicating labor market weakness.
"We’re waiting for the data fog to clear, but what we can say from PriceStats is that inflation is rolling over, so everything hinges on the jobs data—that will be the driver for risk sentiment," said Michael Metcalfe of State Street Global Markets.
**Yen Weakens** Overnight, Asian markets saw some volatility, including in currencies, where the yen faced renewed pressure after Japan’s new prime minister pushed for the central bank to hike rates gradually.
The yen slumped to a record low of 179.49 against the euro and hovered near 154.92 per dollar, its weakest in nine months—despite the finance minister’s warning a day earlier that the government was closely monitoring the currency.
The Nikkei 225 closed up 0.4%, while the TOPIX hit a fresh peak as investors rotated portfolios away from overheated AI stocks toward other sectors.
"Debate remains over whether the Bank of Japan will tighten by year-end. We lean toward tightening, but there’s a strong market narrative that policy settings will keep the yen weak—a view that’s hard to shake," added Metcalfe.
**Other Markets** Gold extended recent gains, trading above $4,200, while benchmark government bonds were largely calm, with U.S. 10-year yields at 4.09% and German equivalents at 2.65%.
**Oil Slips** Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped slightly from a one-month high, while China’s Shanghai Composite rose 1% ahead of credit and retail sales data due later this week.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones hit a fresh record overnight, though the tech-heavy Nasdaq retreated.
In London, the FTSE 100, weighted toward miners, edged lower after scaling a historic high the prior day. European tech stocks led gains, with ASML and Infineon showing signs of recovery from last week’s steep declines.
Elsewhere in FX, sterling briefly touched a session low after data showed near-zero Q3 GDP growth, while the Australian dollar climbed as a jobs surge fueled bets that local rate cuts may be over.
Brent crude futures fell to a three-week low of $62.42/barrel after OPEC revised its outlook, projecting a slight oil surplus by 2026. Prices had dropped 3.8% the previous day.
"Recent price softness appears driven by OPEC’s monthly report tweaking its 2026 supply-demand balance, confirming the group now acknowledges potential oversupply," said Suvro Sarkar, head of energy research at DBS.
