Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq waver as US shutdown begins, ADP shows unexpected jobs decline

Shares of the AES Corporation (AES) soared 15% at the market open on Wednesday after the Financial Times reported that BlackRock’s (BLK) Global Infrastructure Partners is nearing a $38 billion deal to buy the utility.

GIP, which owns stakes in London’s Gatwick airport and pipeline networks in the US and Middle East, is set to complete the takeover in the coming days in one of the largest infrastructure acquisitions of all time, according to the FT.

AES operates several power plants across the US and in other nations and is seen as benefiting from the surge in energy demand from the data centers owned by Big Tech giants. Though the stock has had a choppy 2025, as renewable energy has fallen out of favor in US policy. Year to date, shares are up just 2%.

BlackRock shares were down around 1% at the open on Wednesday.

Job creation in the labor market continued to lose momentum in September across most sectors, ADP reported on Wednesday.

New data showed that private employers shed 32,000 jobs in September — missing Wall Street estimates for 51,000 jobs created, according to analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

The biggest decline was in the hospitality field, which lost 19,000 jobs, though several sectors reported job losses. The bright spot continues to be education and health services, which gained 33,000 jobs in September.

A government shutdown has heightened the significance of the private payrolls report, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics will not publish the all-important monthly jobs report during the stoppage. As my colleague Hamza Shaban notes in today’s Morning Brief (see the blog below), the hole left by that missing data is expected to complicate the Federal Reserve’s policymaking.

Read more here.

Even before the latest threat of a government shutdown, policymakers and economists flagged a shift toward using more private data to get a picture of the US economy, writes Yahoo Finance’s Hamza Shaban.

He reports in the takeaway from today’s Morning Brief:

Read more here.

Cal-Maine Foods (CALM) stock dived 7% in premarket trading on Wednesday after its strong fiscal first quarter results were not strong enough to clear Wall Street analyst estimates.

The US’s largest egg producer recorded $4.12 per share in profit, compared to the average estimate on the Street of $5.10 per share, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Revenue of $922 million — a 17.4% increase year over year — was short of the $952 million expected.

The company noted that powerful consumer trends, like the growing demand for protein and focus on health and wellness, have supported US egg consumption. While bird flocks remain below their historical levels due to bird flu, Cal-Maine said supply is recovering.

Cal-Maine has worked to expand its specialty egg and prepared food offerings in recent quarters. Specialty egg sales, which made up nearly a third of Cal-Maine’s overall sales, rose 10.4% to $283.5 million. Prepared foods, such as pre-cooked egg patties and omelets, also saw significant growth. The segment grew 839% year over year to $83.9 million versus $8.9 million in fiscal 2025.

The government shutdown is likely to push back the release of the jobs report and inflation data for September — closely watched not just by the Federal Reserve, but also Social Security recipients, note Yahoo Finance’s Emma Ockerman and Kerry Hannon.

They report:

Read more here.

The dollar (DX-Y.NYB) is heading for its longest losing streak in a month in an echo of past shutdowns.

Bloomberg reports:

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Shares in Lithium Americas (LAC, LAC.TO) shot up over 30% on Wall Street early Wednesday after the US Department of Energy snapped up a 5% stake in the Canadian miner.

Lithium Americas said the DOE has also taken a separate 5% stake in the Thacker Pass lithium project in Nevada, a joint venture between the Vancouver-based company and General Motors (GM),

Reuters reports:

GM, which invested $625 million in the mine last year for a 38% stake, has the right to buy all of the project’s lithium from its first phase and a portion from the second phase for 20 years.

Read more here.

Yahoo Finance’s Ben Werschkul takes a look at the potential economic impact of the funding stoppage that started early Wednesday:

Federal agencies will now implement their contingency plans and send hundreds of thousands of government workers home to wait out a stalemate.

Economic effects might be noticeable quickly as government spending largely ceases and economic data gets delayed, starting this Friday with what was scheduled to be a jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These impacts could be mitigated if the stoppage ends promptly.

Trump on Tuesday also promised to heighten the potential effects of a shutdown — in part to pressure Democrats — saying “we can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible.”

He added later in the day “a lot of good can come down from shutdowns. We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn’t want.”

The shutdown is also not the only Washington policy focus for investors Wednesday. Markets will also be digesting new tariffs, as promised duties of 100% on a slice of pharmaceutical products and 25% duties on heavy-duty trucks are scheduled to go into effect.

This week also marked the last formal day on the job for government employees who accepted a Department of Government Efficiency program earlier this year called “fork in the road” that induced tens of thousands to leave government service.

Read more here.

Nike’s (NKE) fiscal first quarter earnings and sales topped Wall Street estimates late on Tuesday.

The stock rose about 3% in premarket trading as investors welcomed the performance from the sneaker giant, which is navigating a major turnaround strategy under CEO Elliott Hill and President Trump’s tariffs.

Yahoo Finance’s Brooke DiPalma reports:

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

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