The End of the Shutdown Is Boosting the Stock Market. Don’t Get Too Excited.

U.S. stocks are likely to claw back a big chunk of last week’s decline in early Monday trading, as risk appetite returns amid reports of a potential end to the longest government shutdown on record and investors hunt for bargains following the biggest tech selloff since last spring. The long, and likely volatile path to reopening the federal government, however, will only mask the major issues investors are grappling with heading into the final weeks of the trading year, and markets could break in either direction once some of those questions are addressed. “While the policy crosscurrents are complex, in the very near term we think an end to the shutdown will be beneficial as it did appear to be a contributing factor to the indigestion the stock market experienced over the past weeks,” said Lori Calvasina, head of U.S. equity strategy at RBC Capital Markets.