Investing.com — U.S. stock futures fell in Asian trade on Friday after a stop-gap spending bill backed by President-elect Donald Trump was voted down in Congress, raising the possibility of a government shutdown.
The index fell 0.4% to 5,912.50 points, while it fell 0.5% to 21,263.0 points by 22:10 Eastern time (02:10 GMT). It fell 0.3% to 42,661.0 points. Futures extended losses after a slight decline in Thursday evening trading.
The bill was put together at the eleventh hour by policymakers to include Trump's demands to increase government spending and raise the debt ceiling. But the spending bill was rejected by a vote of 174 to 235 in the House, and several Republican senators openly challenged the president-elect.
The new bill replaces a bipartisan agreement to approve government spending, after Trump and Tesla (NASDAQ:) CEO Elon Musk came out in opposition to the old deal.
Government funding is set to expire at midnight Friday, marking the beginning of a partial government shutdown that could disrupt operations ranging from border security to travel. The disruption is expected to be particularly serious amid rising travel trends during the holiday season.
Trump and Musk rejected several provisions in the older bill, which they viewed as wasteful giveaways to Democrats. The revised version of the bill had dropped some provisions to increase lawmakers' pay, but at Trump's demands, proposed limits on the national debt for two years — a scenario that would make it easier to pass the tax cuts he promised.
The government shutdown represents another layer of uncertainty for Wall Street, which was already reeling from steep losses earlier this week after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates but signaled a much slower pace of rate cuts in 2025.
The focus on Friday is also on upcoming key data for November. This reading is the Fed's preferred measure of inflation, and is likely to influence interest rate expectations.
