Beat the Street: US stocks edge lower ahead of data, jobs, OPEC+

(Partial Video Transcript)

New US funding bill averts shutdown

Hello, I'm Angeline Ong, and welcome to Beat the Street, the show that gives you all the tradeable news and data you need ahead of the Wall Street Open.

Coming up, shutdown has been avoided as US Congress passed its funding bill. This is a highlight, however, it has to be said that US stocks are edging lower, even though the shutdown has been averted. Investors eyeing Fed comments and jobs, and also a huge amount of data coming out this week.

We'll have tasty's Josh Fabian live from Chicago in just a minute for more on that. And oil is steady as the focus returns amid an OPEC+ meeting returns to the supply outlet.

Equity markets trading lower

Good afternoon, I'm Angeline Ong, and welcome to this new edition of Beat the Street. Not long now before Wall Street starts trading, this is how equity markets are looking.

And they are ticking lower, showing you this chart here, which is giving you an hourly view. As you can see there, they were just marginally higher just about moments ago. However, they are now ticking lower.

Similar story for the Tech 100 as well, as you can see there on the hourly chart. And also the US 500 on our platform, giving you a mirrored effect after the news that the government shutdown had been averted. Perhaps investors are looking more towards the jobs number out this week. We've also got the JOLTS jobs report.

And, not forgetting, mixed data coming out of China could perhaps be keeping investors cautious as well. In terms of mega-cap stocks, we're watching the Apple, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon for you, because they were rising slightly earlier, but they have recently just changed direction slightly, as you can see there. This is the hourly view.

Meta ticks lower, VIX ticks higher

Meta, of course, is an all-session stock, and it's just ticked lower, similar to the major indices. But perhaps more interesting is the volatility index (VIX), because of late, volatility has been ticking higher. And no surprise, really, given so much that's been going on, that has increased caution amongst investors around the world

Now, back to one of our top stories. Congress passed a stop-gap funding bill over the weekend, with overwhelming Democratic support after Republican House Speaker, Kellen McCarthy, backed down from an earlier demand by his party's hardliners for a partisan bill. Investors, as I mentioned, also braced for quite a few comments out later.

[…]