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Investing.com - U.S. stock futures rose sharply Monday after the Senate voted in favor of a bill aimed at ending the long-lasting government shutdown, also prompting gains for gold and crude oil. The COP30 climate conference begins later in the session, Pfizer has won the bidding war for obesity drug developer Metsera.
1. U.S. shutdown breakthrough
Dramatic progress was made on the weekend towards ending the U.S. government shutdown, the country’s longest ever, after lawmakers on late-Sunday voted in favor of advancing a bill with this aim.
The Senate voted 60-40 in a test vote to move towards passing legislation to fund the government until at least January 30, 2026, with eight Democrat senators offering their support to a Republican offer to hold a later vote on extending certain healthcare subsidies, as well as assurances that federal workers fired during the shutdown will be brought back.
The Senate will still need to hold a final vote on the spending bill, after which it will need to be considered by the House of Representatives before being signed into law by President Donald Trump.
Sunday’s vote marks real progress towards ending the shutdown, which entered its 40th day on Sunday.
This is the 15th shutdown since 1981 and the second under President Donald Trump, and is projected to have resulted in tens of billions of dollars in lost gross domestic product.
2. U.S. futures jump on shutdown news
U.S. stock futures rose strongly Monday after Senate lawmakers took a critical step over the weekend towards potentially ending the country’s longest government shutdown.
At 03:00 ET (08:00 GMT), the S&P 500 futures traded 50 points, or 0.7%, higher Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 325 points, or 1.3%, and Dow futures rose 105 points, or 0.2%.
The Senate advanced a bill that will fund the government until January 30 after eight Democrats moved to break the impasse.
If the Senate eventually passes the amended bill, the package still must be approved by the House of Representatives and sent to President Donald Trump for his signature, a process that could take several days.
Concerns over the potential economic impact of the shutdown resulted in U.S. consumer sentiment weakening to the lowest level in nearly 3-1/2 years in early November.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said in an interview that the U.S. economy could contract in the fourth quarter if the shutdown dragged on.
The NASDAQ Composite posted its worst week since April, losing 3%, while the S&P 500 dropped 1.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 1.2% last week.
3. COP30 starts in Brazil
The COP30 global climate summit kicks off on Monday in Belem, the Brazilian city symbolically chosen for its rainforest location at the mouth of the Amazon.
The gathering marks three decades since global climate negotiations began, which eventually resulted in the 1992 U.N. climate treaty. This committed countries to working together to fight climate change – a problem they acknowledged all countries faced and was best tackled together.
However, while countries have since curbed a climb in carbon emissions somewhat, this has not been enough to prevent what scientists consider extreme climate change in coming decades.
With this in mind, the conference could be highly contentious, especially as the Trump government has decided not to send any high-level officials and has announced its intention to withdraw from the treaty.
4. Pfizer wins Mersera bidding war
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) has clinched a $10 billion deal for obesity drug developer Metsera, capping a fierce biotech bidding war between the New York-based pharma giant and Danish rival Novo Nordisk (CSE:NOVOb).
Metsera accepted a sweetened offer from Pfizer late on Friday, citing U.S. antitrust risks in Novo’s bid that it had previously called superior. The Danish obesity drug behemoth said on Saturday it would exit the race.
This hands Pfizer a way into the lucrative obesity drug market, even if Metsera’s treatments remain years from hitting the market. It marks a blow for Novo as it tries to claw back lost ground against U.S. rival Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY).
The bidding war between Pfizer and Novo lifted the price from Pfizer’s $7.3 billion offer in September, with the U.S. company looking for entry into a market some analysts estimate will hit $150 billion by early next decade.
5. Gold rises sharply
Gold prices rose sharply, rising back above the symbolic $4,000 an ounce level on some weakness in the dollar, with the Federal Reserve seen cutting interest rates in December.
Spot gold traded 1.9% higher to $4,077.00 an ounce and gold futures gained 1.9% to $4,085.65/oz.
Markets were seen largely maintaining bets that the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points in December, especially after a slew of weak private readings on the job market last week.
Oil prices rose Monday on optimism that the end of the U.S. government shutdown was near, potentially lifting demand in the world’s top oil consumer.
Brent futures gained 0.8% to $64.11 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.9% to $60.28 a barrel.
Both contracts fell about 2% last week, recording their second consecutive weekly decline, after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, or OPEC+, agreed to increase output slightly in December, but it also paused further hikes in the first quarter, wary of a supply glut.
(Reuters contributed reporting.)