Company Interview / the open: ASX to climb as US shutdown uncertainty continues

The local market is set to open higher to begin the week with ASX futures up 0.3%. This is despite a mostly negative end to last week on global equity markets. 

On Wall Street the Nasdaq ended the week about 3% lower, its biggest weekly loss since the tariff meltdown in early April. The S&P 500 and the Dow turned higher late in the day on reports of a possible breakthrough in congress to end the US government shutdown. Tesla shares fell after the company's shareholders approved the largest corporate pay package in history for CEO Elon Musk of up to $1 trillion. 

Democrats and Republicans remain locked in a standoff that has led to the longest US government shutdown in history. Around 1.4 million federal employees are working without pay or on unpaid leave, and the lack of official government data caused by the shutdown has seen investors forced to rely on other indicators to gauge the health of the economy. 

The US dollar index was down slightly on Friday, meanwhile the Australian dollar is trading just shy of 65 cents.