A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Tom

Westbrook

The longest U.S. government shutdown on record looks to be

nearly over, and traders are riding the tail end of a wave of

relief that began late last week.

The Senate approved a compromise that would restore U.S.

government funding. It next heads to the House, where Speaker

Mike Johnson has said he would like to pass it as soon as

Wednesday and send it on to President Donald Trump to sign into

law.

Gold and the Nasdaq have logged their best

gains in months, with gold in particular attempting to recover

the momentum that shot it to record highs in October with an

added boost from bets on future U.S. interest rate cuts.

Asian share markets were mostly steady or a little higher

through Tuesday and the risk-on mood pushed the safe-haven yen

to a nine-month low.

The U.S. bond market is closed on Tuesday for a holiday, but

long bonds have been sold and shorter ones were steadier,

reflecting markets' shift out of riskier assets as well as an

expectation that the resumption of U.S. data publication builds

a case for rate cuts.

Elsewhere, Japanese tech investor SoftBank Group is

about to report second-quarter earnings in the midst of feverish

investment in artificial intelligence that has sent its share

price soaring.

Sony ( SONY ) raised its operating profit forecast for the

year ending March 2026 by 8%, citing a smaller impact from U.S.

tariffs and the strength of its music and chips businesses.

In Australia, shares in one of the world's most expensive

banks, Commonwealth Bank, fell nearly 5% after the

country's biggest lender said competition was cutting margins.

In China, Tuesday is Singles Day and the culmination of what

has evolved into a weeks-long shopping bonanza. Last year, 1.44

trillion yuan ($202 billion) of goods were sold during the

period. That's almost five times the $41.1 billion U.S. shoppers

spent last year during Cyber Week, the period from Black Friday

to Cyber Monday.

Key developments that could influence markets on Tuesday:

- Earnings from SoftBank, Vodafone ( VOD ) and Munich Re

- German ZEW survey, British weekly employment data