U.S. stocks are down and Treasury yields are rising after the federal government in Washington, D.C. shutdown at midnight on October 1.
The U.S. Congress was unable to reach an agreement on the federal funding bill in time to avert a shutdown.
As a result, most federal departments have shutdown and as many as 750,000 government workers have been furloughed.
The result in financial markets has been for all three of the major stock indices to decline, with the benchmark S&P 500 index down 0.57%.
At the same time, the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond is inching higher and at 4.152%. The 30-year bond yield rose just over one basis point to 4.7447%.
One basis point equals 0.01% and yields and prices have an inverse relationship.
Most consequential to financial markets is that, due to the shutdown, there is likely to be a delay in the release of economic data, including the influential jobs and inflation reports.
The economic data is seen as important to the U.S. Federal Reserve and its next decision on interest rates that’s scheduled for late October.
Both the Republican and Democratic parties in Congress are blaming each other for the latest shutdown of the U.S. government.
President Donald Trump has threatened mass firings of federal workers during the current shutdown.
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