House GOP leaders are scrambling to reach a deal to avert a partial government shutdown before Friday's deadline, but experts say a shutdown would likely have little impact on the stock market – and might even help it, given the circumstances. The last-minute wrangling comes after the initial bipartisan deal received an avalanche of criticism from conservatives amid a push from the incoming Trump administration to rein in government spending.
Investor and finance expert Eric Schiffer, chairman of The Patriarch Organization, says, 'A government shutdown won't lead to nuclear meltdown in markets, but it will create short-term volatility – but only for a few trading sessions since investors believe President Trump will use his mandate to get it passed.' Ted Jenkin, co-founder of oXYGen Financial, dismissed concerns that a shutdown could have any major impact on the markets, telling FOX Business, 'If there is any positive light about the increasing fiscal dysfunction on Capitol Hill, it’s that we have enough history to show that a government shutdown has minimal impact on investors or the financial markets.' Chris Markowski, founder of Markowski Investments, said in an interview that markets could be impacted by a shutdown, depending on how long it lasts. But overall, shutdown concerns are often overblown. 'I think that what's taken place for the past couple days is kind of extraordinary in the sense that so many people were flooding the phone banks over in D.C. to basically say that enough is enough,' Markowski told FOX Business. 'We didn't vote for this. We need to stop with all of this ridiculous spending.'