4:10pm: Nasdaq, S&P 500 record best September performance since 2010
Major US stock indices bounced back to end higher on the day, shrugging off a potential US government shutdown.
The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, while the Nasdaq gained 0.3%, and the Dow moved up 0.2%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 11% during the third quarter and the S&P 500 and Dow gained 7% and 5%, respectively.
Nvidia shares continued to move higher, closing up 2.6%.
3:10pm: Proactive news headlines
- Zacatecas Silver Corp. (TSX-V:ZAC, OTC:ZCTSF) announced the closing of its over-subscribed, non-brokered private placement financing of 62.5 million company units, at a price of C$0.06 per unit, for total gross proceeds of C$3.75 million.
- Sonoro Gold Corp (TSX-V:SGO, OTCQB:SMOFF) said it plans to update a key economic study for its flagship Cerro Caliche gold project in Mexico while also weighing a possible spinout of a second property into a new company.
- C3 Metals Inc (TSX-V:CCCM, OTC:CARCF) has launched its first-ever drill program at the Khaleesi copper-gold project in southern Peru, marking a milestone for the explorer as it tests a promising stretch of the country’s well-known Andahuaylas-Yauri mineral belt.
12.49pm: Pfizer discounts start immediately
President Trump has said that Pfizer's discounts will begin immediately.
He added that pharma companies may face an additional 5-8% tariff if no trade agreements are reached.
The 'most-favoured nation' policy aims to bring American drug prices in line with those paid by similar nations.
Pfizer said a "large majority" of its primary care and some select specialty medications will be offered at discounts of up to 85%, averaging around 50% on the new direct purchasing platform, TrumpRx.gov, though this site does not appear to be live yet.
The agreement "provides certainty from tariffs and clarity on pricing framework that furthers Pfizer’s ability to expand investment in US-based innovation and return manufacturing to the US," the company said.
As part of the deal, Pfizer has agreed to a three-year "grace period" during which time its products won't face tariffs, provided the compay ups investment in US manufacturing.
A "balanced global pricing approach" has been established that it said will ensure prices in the US and other developed countries are "both reasonable and sustainable".
12.40pm: Pfizer first to sign up for Trump's MFN drug pricing
Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE, ETR:PFE) shares have jumped over 5% after Donald Trump said the drugmaker would be the first company offering lower prices on its prescription drugs for American customers.
Under a new agreement with the White House, the company will offer discounts of 40% to 80% under the "most favoured nation" drug pricing order established earlier this year.
The President said in a video address that Pfizer will begin offering discounts "across the board" when medicines are purchased directly on a US government website.
It was reported that Pfizer will begin selling its medications directly to consumers through a newly branded TrumpRx website, though this was not mentioned in the White House factsheet.
"The agreement will provide every State Medicaid program in the country access to MFN drug prices on Pfizer products, resulting in many millions of dollars in savings and continuing President Trump’s historic efforts to strengthen the program for the most vulnerable," the statement said.
10.31am: Confidence dips and JOLTS little moved
US consumer sentiment lost momentum in September, with the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index falling to 94.2 from a revised-up 97.8 (from 97.4).
The 'present situation' component of the index saw its largest drop in a year, noted Stephanie Guichard, CB senior economist.
"Consumers’ assessment of business conditions was much less positive than in recent months, while their appraisal of current job availability fell for the ninth straight month to reach a new multiyear low.
"This is consistent with the decline in job openings. Expectations also weakened in September, but to a lesser extent. Consumers were a bit more pessimistic about future job availability and future business conditions, but optimism about future income increased, mitigating the overall decline in the expectations index.”
Meanwhile, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for August did not show a material change in hires, layoffs, and open positions.
As such there are minimal implications for the Federal Reserve, says Ryan Sweet, chief US economist at Oxford Economics.
"The Fed has a bias to cut unless the labor market shows signs of improvement but fog the central bank sets monetary policy could get thicker because the partial federal government shutdown could delay the release of the September employment report."
There were 7.227 million new openings, up from 7.208 million. Quits dipped to 3.091 million from 3.166 million.
Both remain below that seen this time last year, while the hiring rate crept lower, hurt by past tightening in financial market conditions and a significant rise in policy uncertainty, says Sweet.
"The layoff rate didn’t budge in August while the quits rate slipped. The latter suggests that there is some slack in the labor market and nominal wage growth won’t be a source of inflationary pressures.
"The difference between the number of hires and separations, a proxy for the next change in nonfarm employment at the end of August, was 15,000."
He said this lends "some downside risk" to his forecast for a net 85,000 increase in the nonfarm payrolls report for September.
9.55am: Nvidia in the red as big tech drags
Wall Street's main indexes opened in the red, though the Dow Jones has since clawed its way into the green, up 27 points or 0.05% at almost 46,343.
However, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are still down 0.07% and 0.15%. The domestically focused small and mid-cap Russell 2000 is down 0.1% too.
Among the big names of the S&P, Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Tesla are all in the red.
Risers helping the Dow higher are IBM, Amgen, Nike and Verizon.
8.50am: CoreWeave and EchoStar deal reports
CoreWeave shares rose 11.5% in premarket trading after the company disclosed a significant expansion of its cloud services relationship with Meta Platforms.
The new order reinforces the position of the company as a key player in the rapidly expanding AI infrastructure market.
EchoStar shares have gained over 4% after reports emerged that the company is in talks to sell a portion of its wireless spectrum to Verizon Communications.
The discussions centre around EchoStar’s AWS-3 licenses, which are considered valuable for delivering 5G services, Bloomberg reported.
8.15am: New York futures in the red, govt shutdown looms
New York stock futures were in the red on Tuesday, ahead of the opening bell, as a potential US government shutdown looms.
Dow Jones futures were down 68 points or 0.15%, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures down either side of 0.1%.
The dollar extended its pullback, with the DXY index down to 97.82.
Crude prices continued to drop, with front-month WTI futures off 2.2% at $62. OPEC+ meets this weekend and is expected to announce a modest output hike.
Investors are also digesting the possibility of key economic data delays if Republicans and Democrats fails to strike a budget deal in Washington by midnight tonight.
The Trump administration is threatening to not just furlough thousands of government workers but also make some lay-offs too.
"Investors are once again contending with a high probability of a US government shutdown," warned Trade Nation’s David Morrison, as confidence in Friday’s jobs data being published continues to fade.
Analysts have also noted the risk that a shutdown will mean that Friday’s non-farm payroll report on the jobs market will not be released on time.
"This puts additional emphasis on other labour market statistics due out this week," said Morrison, such as the JOLTS job openings data today, tomorrow’s ADP payrolls number and Thursday’s weekly unemployment claims update.
President Trump’s newest tariff announcements include a 10% duty on imported timber and lumber and a 25% levy on imported kitchen cabinets and upholstered furniture.
European corporate news have also shaped sentiment, said Morrison, with jewellery firm Pandora sliding 3.5% after announcing CEO Alexander Lacik’s retirement.