Investing.com-- US stocks slipped lower Friday, weighed by the prospect of a government shutdown, but pared some losses after the release of cooler-than-expected inflation data.The threat of a US government slowdown was raised Thursday after a Republican bill that included Donald Trump’s demands for higher government spending and a raised debt ceiling was rejected in a vote in the House of Representatives, with several Republican senators also openly defying the President-elect.
A government shutdown presents another layer of uncertainty for Wall Street, which was already nursing steep losses from earlier this week after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates but flagged a substantially slower pace of rate cuts in 2025.release, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, rose 2.4% in November on an annual basis, compared with estimates of 2.5%. On a monthly basis, it rose just 0.1%.
By 09:35 ET, the US crude futures dropped 2.5% to $68.85 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 0.7% to $72.36 a barrel.