Good morning. US stock futures moved lower in Monday morning trading as investors digested news that US legislators were able to come to a temporary agreement to stave off a government shutdown.

"I have a cardinal rule: Never fight the tape"

Marty Zweig

Top News

US avoids government shutdown

WHAT: Crisis averted! For now at least, as the United States narrowly avoided a government shutdown. Members of Congress passed a 45-day extension of the previous budget, giving federal agencies funding to operate and providing Congress with six more weeks to come to an agreement on a final budget.

WHY: Had both houses of Congress not passed a deal to fund government operations, the US would have faced a disruptive federal shutdown. The closure would have included everything from troops to border control agents, to office workers, scientists and others.

Commercial property crash looming survey says

WHAT: Hold on to your desk chairs! According to Bloomberg’s latest Markets Live Pulse Survey, investors expect US office prices to hit the skids with a sharp crash. About two-thirds of the 919 respondents surveyed by Bloomberg believe that the US office market will only rebound after a severe collapse.

WHY: Commercial property values are getting hit hard by the Federal Reserve’s aggressive tightening campaign, which lifts a key cost of owning property — the expense of financing.

UK minimum wage to go up

WHAT: British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt is expected to have a “mic drop” moment as he’s set to announce an increase in the minimum wage for workers across England in his annual Conservative Party conference speech. Hunt is scheduled to announce that the living wage — the minimum wage for workers over 23 years old — will rise to at least 11 pounds ($13.42) an hour, from 10.42 pounds.

WHY: Average weekly earnings have risen sharply for workers across the board in the UK, which the Bank of England has said is its biggest concern regarding inflationary pressure.

In Other News

Dental company bites the dust…

WHAT: Brace yourselves for this dental drama! Dental aligner company SmileDirectClub is filing for bankruptcy just four years after raising $1.35 billion in an initial public offering. The Nashville, Tennessee-based company listed $499 million of assets and more than $1 billion of liabilities in its bankruptcy petition.

WHY: Since going public in 2019 at a valuation of $8.9 billion, the company has struggled with declining revenues and has never turned a profit.

Apple addresses iPhone 15 overheating issue

WHAT: Apple’s new iPhone’s have been catching a bit of a “fever”, but the company announced it was taking steps to “cool down” the situation. The company said it had identified a few issues that could cause the phones to run a bit warmer than expected including a bug in its iOS 17 software which it said would be fixed in an upcoming update.

WHY: After complaints by customers that the new phones were getting very warm, Apple stated that the device may feel warmer in the first few days “after setting up or restoring the device because of increased background activity.”

Panama Canal drops anchor on ship volume

WHAT: The Panama Canal just declared a slight “ship squeeze” situation! Canal administrators announced that they will reduce the maximum number of ships travelling the waterway to 31 per day, due to a drought that has reduced the supply of fresh water needed to operate the locks.

WHY: In August, the Canal implemented a measure capping the number of ships passing through its locks daily to a maximum of 32. Not enough rain has fallen to feed the watershed system of rivers and brooks that fill the lakes whose water in turn fills the locks.

Key Economic Events

• Monday - US Construction Spending

• Tuesday - No Major Economic News

• Wednesday - No Major Economic News

• Thursday - Initial Jobless Claims (wk end Sept 29)

• Friday - U.S. Unemployment Rate, U.S. Consumer Credit

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