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The government shutdown has now dragged on for more than 5 weeks, which means it is officially the longest on record. It also means that the October jobs report scheduled to be released on Nov. 7 was delayed indefinitely. This is the second consecutive month that the report has failed to be released on time, and there are doubts as to whether it will be released at all.

However, some clues may be gleaned from the release of the ADP nonfarm payroll report on Wednesday. It was found that the economy added 42,000 jobs, which was slightly more than the expected increase of 32,000. It was significantly higher than last month’s report when the economy lost 29,000 jobs. Whether this is a sign that the economy will continue to teeter on the edge of growth instead of moving toward recession won’t be known for several more weeks as jobs reports are often revised.

A couple of other important reports were released this week in the form of the ISM Manufacturing PMI and the ISM Services PMI. The ISM Manufacturing PMI was released Monday and came in at 48.7, which was roughly in line with the projected 49.4. However, it was slightly lower than last month’s 49.1. Regardless, it indicates that manufacturing is in a minor contraction.

The ISM Services PMI was released on Wednesday and came in at 52.4, which was much higher than the projected 50.7. It was also higher than last month’s reading of exactly 50. This continues a pattern established over the past several months in which the pace of manufacturing declines while demand for services continues to grow.

Also on Friday, the University of Michigan released its consumer sentiment and inflation expectations data. The preliminary numbers found that consumer sentiment was 50.3 while respondents believed that inflation would be at 4.7 percent 12 months from now.

The S&P 500 was down more than 1.8 percent this week to close at 6,728. That was a loss of 129 points for an index that has seemingly been making or matching yearly and all-time highs on a weekly basis. On Monday morning, the market made its high of the week at 6,857 before spending the next few days in freefall. It hit its low on Friday morning when it bottomed out at 6,634.

The Dow also lost more than 1 percent over the past five trading days closing at 46,987. This represents a loss of 527 points for an index that has had few losing weeks since April and is still challenging to meet or break all-time highs. Monday morning, the index peaked at 47,489 and would make its low of the week Friday morning when it fell to 46,530.

The Nasdaq also finished the first week of November lower. It fell by 4.1 percent on fears of a potential AI bubble dragging on some of the market’s top companies. The index finished the week at 25,059, which was more than 1,000 points lower than it began on Monday. The Nasdaq made a weekly high of 26,023 on Monday. On Friday, the market made its weekly low of 24,631.

In international news, the Swiss government announced early Monday that inflation was down 0.3 percent over the past month. Later Monday, Australia announced that the nation’s key interest rate would remain at 3.6 percent. Thursday, Great Britain announced that it would also retain the status quo by keeping its key interest rate at 4 percent. Finally, on Friday, Canada announced that its unemployment rate was 6.9 percent while the economy added 66,000 jobs over the past month.

If the government shutdown ends, United States inflation data will be released on Thursday. On Friday, retail sales and price change data will be released assuming that the government is back open for business. However, there is little reason to believe that this will happen. Internationally, Australia is set to release unemployment change data while Great Britain will release GDP figures.

The government shutdown will officially make its way into a second month as an agreement to reopen still hasn’t been made. It will likely have an impact on monetary policy moving forward as the Federal Reserve is being asked to make decisions without key data.

It’s unlikely that the September jobs report is going to be published, and it’s also likely that the October jobs report will be delayed as well. It would typically be delivered on the first Friday of the month.

This week, the Fed released its October rate decision, and it decided to reduce the country’s main interest rate by 25 basis points. Although such a move was expected, the final vote was an interesting one as there was dissention in both directions. One voting member believed that the Fed Funds Rate should stay where it is while another voted for a rate cut of 50 basis points.

While many believe that there will be one or two more rate cuts this year, the shutdown has made this less of a foregone conclusion. A lack of data leaves the Fed with a cloudy picture of consumer demand as well as the overall health of the job market. Therefore, some may want to move cautiously preferring to ease back to neutral or to stand pat in case inflation comes roaring back.

There were a couple of notable events on the tariff front this week with President Trump agreeing to reduce duties paid by China on its exports to the United States. He also held firm on his decision not to negotiate with Canada even after Canadian officials agreed to take down ads criticizing tariffs.

The S&P 500 closed out the month of October on a winning note as the index closed the week up 11.7 points to finish at 6,840. This represents a gain of 0.17 percent for the week that saw the market make a high of 6,919 on Wednesday and a low of 6,830 on Friday afternoon.

The Dow was also up slightly this week to finish at 47,562. This was a gain of 185.93 points or 0.39 percent for the market that continues to make fresh all-time highs. Over the last five days, the index made a high of 47,989 and a low of 47,347.

Finally, the Nasdaq made small gains this week finishing at 23,724 at the close of Friday’s trading. This was a gain of 210 points or 0.9 percent for the tech index. Over the past five days, it made a high of 24,016 and a low of 23,557.

In international news, both the Royal Bank of Canada (BOC) and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) made interest rate decisions this week. On Wednesday, the BOC reduced the country’s main rate by 25 basis points to 2.25 percent. The BOJ kept rates steady at roughly 0.5 percent. In addition, the Eurozone made its October interest rate announcement choosing to keep its main rate steady at 2.15 percent.

The upcoming week will feature several important news announcements even if the shutdown isn’t resolved. Among the top releases include the ISM Services PMI and ISM Manufacturing PMI in addition to the ADP version of the nonfarm payroll report expected out on Wednesday. If the shutdown is resolved, the BLS version of the report will be issued on Friday along with the PCE Core Price Index data.

The government shutdown dragged on for another week without any hope of a resolution. This means that a slew of economic reports typically issued throughout the month have either been postponed or scrapped altogether. The September jobs report looks like it won’t be released until the first week of November at the earliest, and if the shutdown drags on much longer, the October report may be in danger of being delayed as well.

However, one important report was finally released this week in the form of the September inflation figures. Over the past month, inflation rose 0.3 percent, which was slightly below the expected increase of 0.4 percent. However, on an annualized basis, inflation was 3 percent, which was slightly higher than the 2.9 percent recorded in August.

Also on Friday, the Flash Services PMI and the Flash Manufacturing PMI reports were made public. The Flash Services PMI came in at 55.2, which was much higher than the projected 53.5 and higher than last month’s official figure of 54.2. The Flash Manufacturing PMI came in at 52.2, which was slightly higher than projections and last month’s figure. This implies that there is a period of growth ahead for both the services and manufacturing sector.

The state of the economy may also be complicated by the ongoing wage trade wars with China and Canada. Although it’s unlikely that a 100 percent tariff against China will be enforced in full, tensions between the two nations mean that anything is possible over the short-term.

The S&P 500 was up 90 points to finish 6,791, which represented an increase of 1.34 percent over the past five trading days. The index continues to make all-time highs as the April correction becomes a distant memory. The weekly low of 6,668 was reached on Wednesday morning while the weekly high of 6,806 was hit late on Friday afternoon.

The Dow was up 778 points to finish the week at 47,207, which was a gain of 1.68 percent over the past five trading days. On Monday, the market opened at its lowest point of the week of 46,967 before reversing and moving higher. The high came on Friday when the index reached 47,299.

Finally, the Nasdaq finished the week up 326 points to close at 25,358 at the end of trading Friday. This was a gain of 1.31 percent for the tech-heavy sector that is also flirting with all-time highs. For the week, the index peaked at 25,401 late on Friday and made its low of the week on Wednesday when it dipped to 24,711.

In international news, Great Britain announced on Wednesday morning that its CPI was 3.8 percent on an annualized basis. This was lower than the projected 4 percent and the same as last month’s official figure. On Tuesday morning, Canada announced that its CPI rose by 0.1 percent on a monthly basis and was 3.2 percent on an annualized basis. On Thursday, Canada announced that retail sales were up 1 percent over the past month.

The upcoming week will likely be a muted one as only the Fed Funds decision on Wednesday is guaranteed to take place. It’s expected that the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points at the October meeting.