Well, well, well. Look who decided to show up to work after a 39-day vacation. The Senate finally remembered they have actual jobs to do, and tech stocks are throwing a little celebration party in pre-market trading.
Here’s the deal: After what feels like the longest government shutdown in history (because it literally is), our elected officials in Washington managed to pass a procedural vote that could actually end this mess. S&P 500 futures jumped 0.9%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 shot up 1.5%. Even the old-school Dow managed a respectable 0.4% bump.
Why should you care? Because this shutdown has been like that friend who crashes on your couch “just for a few days” and ends up staying for over a month. It’s been wreaking havoc on consumer confidence, delaying economic data releases, and generally making everyone’s life more complicated than it needs to be.
The Federal Reserve has been trying to make policy decisions while flying blind – imagine trying to parallel park with a blindfold on. Not exactly confidence-inspiring. Meanwhile, we’re still waiting on key inflation data like the Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index because, surprise, government workers need to be at work to compile government data. Who could have seen that coming?
Tech stocks have been having a particularly rough time lately. Last week saw the worst tech sell-off since April, with everyone’s favorite AI darling Nvidia getting knocked around like a pinball. The whole “AI bubble” conversation has been getting louder, and investors have been side-eyeing those sky-high valuations like they’re trying to figure out if that designer handbag is real or fake.
But here’s where it gets interesting. The market is basically saying, “Hey, if we can just get the government to function like a normal government, maybe we can get back to the business of making money.” It’s not exactly a high bar, but apparently, it’s where we are in 2025.
This week, we’re getting earnings from some interesting players: CoreWeave, Oklo, and Rocket Lab are stepping up to the plate in tech, while Disney and Paramount Skydance will show us how the entertainment world is holding up. It’s like a mixed bag of “companies trying to figure out the future” and “companies trying to figure out if people still watch movies.”
The real question is whether this optimism holds up. Sure, the Senate managed to not completely embarrass themselves, but the bill still needs to make it through the House, where things can get… creative. Think of it as clearing the first level of a video game – you’re making progress, but there are still plenty of ways to die.
For now, though, tech investors are taking what they can get. After weeks of uncertainty and volatility, even the possibility of a functioning government feels like a win. It’s a low bar, but hey, we’ll take it.