U.S. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the shutdown could reduce U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter by two percentage points.
- U.S. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the October CPI and jobs data may not be released.
- FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the Chinese government agreed to fully designate and list all 13 chemical precursors used to produce fentanyl.
- He said China has also agreed to control seven chemical subsidiaries that contribute to its production.
U.S. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that the White House is “very hopeful” that the government shutdown will come to an end on Wednesday night.
“Tonight, thanks to Republicans, the White House is very hopeful that this shutdown is going to come to an end,” she said. Leavitt added that, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, the shutdown could reduce fourth-quarter economic growth by two percentage points.
October Data Disruption
She reiterated that the shutdown had made it extraordinarily difficult for economists, investors, and policymakers at the Federal Reserve to receive critical government data. As a result, Leavitt said the October CPI and jobs reports may never be released. “All of that economic data released will be permanently impaired, leaving our policymakers at the Fed flying blind at a critical period,” she said.
Fentanyl Agreement With China
FBI Director Kash Patel also announced that the Chinese government agreed to fully designate and list all 13 chemical precursors used to produce fentanyl and control seven chemical subsidiaries that contribute to its production.
“Effectively immediately… President Trump has shut off the pipeline that creates fentanyl that kills 10s of 1000s of Americans. These substances are now banned, and they will no longer be utilized by the Mexican drug trafficking organizations or any other DTOs around the world to make this drug,” Patel said.
U.S. equities were mixed in midday trade on Thursday. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was up 0.09%, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) gained 0.82%, but the Nasdaq-100 tracking Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) was down by 0.10%. Retail sentiment around QQQ on Stocktwits trended in ‘extremely bullish’ territory amid ‘high’ levels of chatter.
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