US stocks are heading higher as Fed signals on rate hikes awaited

Wall Street stocks moved higher early Tuesday, extending a period of optimism as markets continue to look past a U.S. government shutdown that has limited the release of economic data.

About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was unchanged at 46,694.91.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent to 6,745.33, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.2 percent to 22,975.45.

The U.S. Senate on Monday night rejected a bill to provide emergency funding to the government through Nov. 21, which will continue staff furloughs during a shutdown now in its second week.

“Market participants are looking at the government shutdown through a historical lens and say it largely has no impact on the market or the economy,” said Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management.

‘If there is an effect on the economy, it will be picked up quickly once the government opens up again.’ Among individual companies, IBM rose 3.1 percent after announcing a strategic partnership with Anthropic, whose Claude platform is one of the emerging players in the field of artificial intelligence. Ford fell 5.4 percent after a fire at an aluminum plant in Oswego, New York, that is expected to reduce deliveries to the auto giant for months.