Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures edge up as Wall Street braces for earnings amid shutdown

US stock futures rose late Thursday after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both slipped from record highs in the day session, weighed down by ongoing political gridlock in Washington.

Futures attached to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F), the benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F), and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) edged up 0.2%.

The government shutdown entered its ninth day Thursday, with lawmakers still unable to agree on a funding bill. The Senate failed for a seventh time to advance stopgap measures. However, change may be coming as some Republican lawmakers signaled willingness to negotiate on the healthcare subsidies Democrats insist on saving as a condition of reopening the government.

Looking ahead, the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment reading is due Friday morning at 10 a.m. ET. In lieu of the release of government economic data during the shutdown, the report will grab investors’ attention.

Additionally, according to Bloomberg, the Bureau of Labour Statistics plans to release September’s CPI by the month’s end. The report will be a reprieve from the data void and provide critical insight into expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts this year.

Next week, investors are bracing for the start of third-quarter earnings season, with major banks including JPMorgan (JPM) and Citigroup (C) set to report their results. Earnings are expected to be softer, with analysts betting tariffs will bite into revenue for the quarter.