Government Shutdown Day 7: No Progress in Senate; House Won't Return Until October 14; Gold, Silver Continue to Advance

The federal government shutdown that began on October 1 enters its seventh day on Tuesday, a week without work or pay for up to 750,000 laid-off, laid-back federal employees and a week of working without pay for the rest of the government's roughly two million employees deemed exempt or essential including members of the military and air traffic controllers.

The Senate failed to pass either of the bills that would continue funding the government until November 21 again on Monday. It was the fifth time the chamber voted on competing bills forwarded by Republican and Democrat leadership. The Republican bill remains in the framework of the bill passed by the House more than two weeks ago. The Democrat version adds in funding for health care. Neither are close to reaching the 60 votes needed for passage and neither side is making concessions or changes to their legislation.

Across the chamber, the House of Representatives isn't expected to return to session until October 14. House Speaker Mike Johnson insists that the House has done its job by passing funding legislation and is only awaiting their colleagues in the Senate to get their act together and send a bill to President Trump's desk for his signature.

None of that appears to be any closer to reality than it was a week ago, despite Trump's comments Monday that progress was being made in the Senate. Negotiations, according to most reliable sources, are not taking place. Finger-pointing and the usual useless rhetoric are in season as the shutdown becomes a political football and begins to be weaponized by the White House. The latest rumblings are coming from airlines and airports, where air traffic controllers are operating as skeleton crews. On Monday, Burbank Airport in California was without any air traffic controllers for about six hours due to shutdown-related scheduling.

Should air traffic controllers slow down operations or report sick en masse, as they have done in other shutdown situations, the standoff between the politicians might reach a compromise sooner. However, airlines are still seeing only minor delays without much disruption. The situation has not reached anywhere near critical, so the shutdown is expected to last at least another week.

Wall Street remains ambivalent towards its Washington counterparts. Stocks gained again on Monday, with the S&P and NASDAQ making all-time highs again. The Shiller PE (CAPE) continues to rise, ending Monday at 40.23.

Gold and silver continue along an inexorable path twoard $4,000 and $50.00, respectively. WTI Crude Oil finished higher on Monday, counter to the longer term bearish trend.

Stock futures point to another higher open.

Conditions have not grown serious enough to warrant selling of stocks, yet.

At the Close, Monday, October 6, 2025:
Dow: 46,694.97, -63.31 (-0.14%)
NASDAQ: 22,941.67, +161.16 (+0.71%)
S&P 500: 6,740.28, +24.49 (+0.36%)
NYSE Composite: 21,765.00, +39.60 (+0.18%)