Stocks limped into the end of the third quarter on Friday, and they’re a bit weaker to start the fourth quarter, too. Treasuries, gold, and silver are lower, while crude oil and the dollar are higher.
On the news front...
Call it the government shutdown that wasn’t. A last-minute deal came together in Congress on Saturday, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy working alongside Democrats to push through a stopgap funding bill before midnight. It may end up costing him his speakership, though, as hard-line Republicans who wanted to shut things down are pushing to replace him.
The US dollar finished the third quarter with a big gain...and it’s becoming a big headache for many parts of the world, as the Wall Street Journal notes. The greenback has gained roughly 6% since July against a broad basket of currencies, while notching even-bigger gains against some emerging market ones. To get a broader rally in risk assets, something will have to break the higher-dollar/higher-rates dynamic we saw during Q3.
US Dollar Index Futures
Source: ICE
In the wake of a handful of successful Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), the footwear company Birkenstock Holding is gearing up for a stock sale. The German company wants to sell 10.75 million shares at a price of $44 to $49. Another 21.51 million shares will be offered by L Catterton, the private equity firm that owns a large stake in it. The deal should price next week if all goes well.
