The US shutdown has ended, for now, as Congress passes a bill to temporarily fund the government to 8 February 2018 when the whole process may start again.
The Senate passed the bill 81 to 18 and the House of Representatives passed the bill by 266 to 150.
The US political system is known for its adversarial nature and both sides would happily torpedo the other despite the damage it would cause to the country. This doesn't directly affect most of us in Australia, but it can hurt the value of our shares.
The Australian share market declined yesterday, with US-focused ASX shares being hurt in-particular. However, today has seen that turn around.
Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) went up by 1.92%
Cochlear Limited (ASX: COH) went up by 1.81%
Computershare Limited (ASX: CPU) went up by 1.39%
Nanosonics Ltd. (ASX: NAN) went up by 1.82%
BETANASDAQ ETF UNITS (ASX: NDQ) went up by 1.55%
iShares S&P 500 ETF (ASX: IVV) went up by 1.1%
Vanguard US Total Market Shares Index ETF (ASX: VTS) went up by 1.06%
Clearly, the danger was short lived. I think today is a good lesson of how short term some people can be when it comes to news events, the share market recovered in less than two trading days.
Foolish takeaway
The US, Australian and global share markets are still trading at record highs, or close to it. Donald Trump proudly heralds this rise in value to his economic management, but the higher the price/earnings ratios of markets go, the more likely a crash is on the cards. I'm not sure that the current American administration have the patience, guile or understanding to do anything to fix it now or in the future.
