TOKYO—Global shares mostly drifted higher Monday as investors fretted over whether the United States government will be able to reach a deal to avoid a federal default.
France’s CAC 40 inched down less than 0.1 percent in early trading to 7,489.72, while Germany’s DAX slipped 0.1 percent to 16,261.45. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.3 percent to 7,780.30. U.S. shares drifted higher with Dow futures up less than 0.1 percent at 33,512.00. S&P 500 futures rose less than 0.1 percent to 4,206.00.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.9 percent to finish at 31,086.82. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slid 0.2 percent to 7,263.30. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.8 percent to 2,557.08. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.2 percent to 19,678.17, while the Shanghai Composite edged up 0.4 percent to 3,296.47.
Markets are closely watching a pivotal meeting set for later in the day at the White House between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the debt ceiling. A default on the U.S. debt would almost surely cause a recession in the American economy, which would have damaging effects on global economies.
“It seems pretty likely that a full-fledged deal will be reached before early June, but the timing is hard to predict,” Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said of the U.S. efforts to avoid a potentially disastrous default on its debt.
“While negotiation strategy and political incentives imply a last-minute deal, we will soon find out if it’s baked beans or lobster during the Memorial Day holiday.”
Data for machinery orders in Japan for March, released Monday, highlighted a slowdown in the world’s third-largest economy, with the key indicator falling 3.9 percent for the second straight month of declines. But analysts think a recovery is coming during this quarter, as domestic manufacturing gradually rebounds from the various negative effects related to the pandemic.
The White House and House Republicans wrapped up another round of talks over the weekend.
Washington needs to strike a budget compromise along with a deal to raise the nation’s borrowing limit to avoid a federal default. Democrats and Republicans face a June 1 deadline, which is when the U.S. government could run out of cash to pay its bills unless Congress allows it to borrow more.
On the positive side, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made comments Friday indicating the Fed may leave interest rates alone at its next meeting in June.
The majority of companies in the S&P 500 have been reporting stronger earnings for the start of the year than analysts expected. But they’re still on track to report a second consecutive quarter of profit declines from year-ago levels.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude lost 47 cents to $71.08 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 23 cents to $75.35 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched down to 137.86 yen from 137.88 yen. The euro cost $1.0811, up from $1.0808.
