06:14 AM EDT, 09/29/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity investors will focus primarily on the possibility of another US government shutdown ahead of Friday's nonfarm payrolls this week.

* The federal government is on the brink of a shutdown starting Wednesday, unless Congress passes a funding bill by Tuesday at midnight. The Trump administration has threatened that if a shutdown occurs, it may not furlough workers and could instead opt for mass firings.

* "If the government remains shut, then there will be no payrolls report this week, along with a few other indicators like claims, construction spending, and factory orders," Derek Holt, head of capital market economics at Scotiabank, said in a note. "Markets may be left to dwell upon limited private sector readings on the state of the US job market that align poorly with nonfarm."

* That being said, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, the nonfarm payrolls for September are expected to show a gain of 51,000 compared with an addition of 22,000 in the previous month. The unemployment rate will likely remain the same at 4.3%.

* Over the coming week, investors will get more information on the state of the labour market that might influence the estimated change in payrolls, according to Scotiabank's Holt.

* On the list are JOLTS job openings in August (Tuesday), ADP private payrolls for September (Wednesday), Challenger job cuts in September (Thursday), and the employment subindex to ISM manufacturing (Monday). The ISM services will come after the payrolls are released.

* The Federal Open Market Committee members on the speaking circuit this week include Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and New York Fed President John Williams. Other Fed heavyweights commenting this week include Fed Board Member Christopher Waller and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee.

* Earnings due this week include Carnival (CCL), Nike ( NKE ) , and Paychex ( PAYX ) .