finance.yahoo.com
The first federal government shutdown in years
began early Wednesday morning after lawmakers and President Trump
stopped negotiations and spent the final hours before the stoppage
largely focused on trying to set up the other side to take the political
blame.
The victory of gridlock was sealed
Tuesday evening when twin Senate votes failed to advance either a
Republican bill (even as three members of the Democratic caucus crossed
party lines to vote yes) or a Democratic plan. No compromise plan was
offered, ensuring the funding lapse.
The shutdown — the first since a seven-week
stoppage during Trump's first term — began at 12:01 a.m. ET as the new
fiscal year began. That last shutdown took place in 2018-19 and broke
the record for the longest in American history.
Federal
agencies will now implement their contingency plans and send hundreds
of thousands of government workers home to wait out a stalemate.
Economic
effects might be noticeable quickly as government spending largely
ceases and economic data gets delayed, starting this Friday with what
was scheduled to be a jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
These impacts could be mitigated if the stoppage ends promptly.
Trump on Tuesday also promised to heighten the
potential effects of a shutdown — in part to pressure Democrats — saying
"we can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible."
He added later in the day "a lot of good can come down from shutdowns. We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn't want."
The shutdown is
also not the only Washington policy focus for investors Wednesday.
Markets will also be digesting new tariffs, as promised duties of 100%
on a slice of pharmaceutical products and 25% duties on heavy-duty
trucks are scheduled to go into effect.
This
week also marked the last formal day on the job for government employees
who accepted a Department of Government Efficiency program earlier this
year called "fork in the road" that induced tens of thousands to leave
government service.
Investors trying to make
sense of these varied crosscurrents coming from Washington will likely
be most attuned to how long this shutdown lasts and whether policymakers
can find any off-ramps to end the gridlock.
As
Veda Partners co-founder Henrietta Treyz noted Tuesday afternoon on
Yahoo Finance Live, the duration of the shutdown has come increasingly
into focus as "the question of the hour," as another round of votes in
the Senate were quickly scheduled for Wednesday.
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso also told reporters Tuesday that votes could be scheduled throughout the weekend.
The stalemate could produce unpredictable economic impacts, some of which could be felt quickly and others that could grow with each passing day.
Much of the immediate market focus is on the government's economic data.
The
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is one of the government's main
collectors of data and will "completely cease operations," according to its contingency plan, and temporarily go from a workforce of 2,055 to just a single full-time employee.
The agency's fulsome calendar
of economic releases will grind to a stop — starting with Friday’s
report on employment known within the financial world as the monthly
jobs report.
The plan is similar at other
sources of government economic data as the Commerce Department is set to
cease operations at both the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic
Analysis.
One new feature around this shutdown that could add more economic uncertainty is a White House promise to consider mass firings if there is no deal.
Trump
has repeatedly promised such moves are in the offing even as the
government contingency plans offered little insight into specifics.
A Bloomberg review of contingency plans
for two thirds of the federal workforce found plans for more than
400,000 employees to be sent home and temporarily furloughed but almost
no references to any sort of permanent staffing reductions.
During this shutdown, the country could also
wrestle with a host of familiar effects seen in previous stoppages. A
shutdown will leave government employees, including military personnel,
temporarily without a paycheck but many being asked to continue
reporting to work.
A perennial public-facing
example of this dynamic is at airports, with both air traffic
controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents
expected to continue being asked to work, even as their paychecks stop.
The
2018 shutdowns saw higher-than-normal unscheduled absences — especially
among the TSA workforce — leading to some disruptions.
As with past shutdowns, Medicare benefits and Social Security checks will continue going out.
The mail will also still be delivered, as the US Postal Service is largely self-funded through the sale of stamps.
The
largely self-funded Federal Reserve will also be able to continue
operations but could see its interest rate deliberations set to take
place at the end of October complicated if the blackout on government
data lasts that long.
Economists
following the shutdown drama this week are also focused on another
policy front: the flurry of tariff pledges from Trump, starting with
today's promised duties on pharmaceutical products and heavy-duty
trucks.
The promise there is for 100% duties on
branded or patented pharmaceuticals products but with significant
loopholes that could severely limit any effects.
For one thing, Trump has pledged to carve out a
full exception to any company "building" in the United States without
offering a detailed definition there.
Pfizer (PFE) also just this week secured a three-year grace period from Trump's promised tariffs on pharmaceuticals as part of a deal aiming to lower some US drug prices with Trump promising Tuesday that more could be in the offing.
Trump
has also promised 25% tariffs on heavy trucks, saying it was "in order
to protect our Great Heavy Truck Manufacturers from unfair outside
competition."
The country most closely watching
this move is Mexico with the White House yet to clarify if the United
States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will provide an exception there.
Today's tariffs are set to be followed on Oct. 14
by 10% duties on "softwood timber and lumber" and 25% rates on "certain
upholstered wooden products." Rates there could jump again next
January, according to a White House release.
Trump has also recently promised 100% tariffs on "any and all movies that are made outside of the United States" as well as "substantial
Tariffs on any Country that does not make its furniture in the United
States" but without clarity about how or when he will proceed there.
Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.