Trump Says Government Shutdown Is Affecting Stock Market ‘A Little,’ Promises Record Highs Ahead

• The government shutdown entered its 36th day on Wednesday, officially becoming the longest closure in U.S. history
• The President said a construction boom from new manufacturing plants will drive future growth despite mounting shutdown costs.
• Goldman Sachs estimated that the shutdown is now costing the U.S. economy approximately $15 billion per week.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for an immediate reopening of the U.S. government, even as he touted the economy and stock market performance that market participants say is now under threat from the very closure he's urging to resolve.​

“We must get the government back open soon, and really immediately. We have to get it up,” Trump said during his speech at the breakfast with Republican senators. “We have the hottest economy we've ever had, and it's affecting the stock market now a little bit. But the stock market as of Friday, has hit many record highs during the last nine months, many. And, it will again.”

Construction And Manufacturing Boom Ahead

Trump emphasized that the current construction boom, including new manufacturing plants and car facilities, is just the beginning of what he described as an unprecedented economic expansion. “There's a construction boom right now, but that's going to be bigger than that,” he said. 

“This is just the beginning, because when these plants that are being built right now start opening up, we've never had anything like this as a boom.”

– Donald J. Trump, President, United States

Longest U.S. Government Shutdown

The president's comments come as the federal government shutdown entered its 36th day on Wednesday, officially becoming the longest closure in U.S. history and surpassing the 35-day shutdown during Trump's first term. Nearly 1.4 million federal workers remain unpaid.

Goldman Sachs estimated, as cited by Bloomberg, that the shutdown is now costing the U.S. economy approximately $15 billion per week and could reduce fourth-quarter GDP growth by 1.15 percentage points even if it ends soon.

U.S. equities were mixed at market open on Wednesday. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was down 0.06%, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) gained 0.07%, and the Nasdaq-100 tracking Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) moved 0.29% lower. Retail sentiment around QQQ on Stocktwits remained in ‘extremely bearish’ territory over the past day, even as chatter remained at ‘high’ levels.

Read also: Crypto Markets See $1.7 Billion In Liquidations As Fear Index Hits Lowest Levels Since April

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