Last Friday, 25th of January, the historic 35-day partial government shutdown ended, or was momentarily put on hold, because the US government realised people needed to get paid.
This shutdown was the longest in US history and saw over 800,000 federal employees forced to work without pay or get furloughed. 35 days without pay is a pretty rough stint for the best of us, let alone those who live paycheck to paycheck. So, as you can image, the shutdown left a pretty hefty dent in the economy due to the delayed economic activity (no wages = no people spending money). Economists believe around US $3billion was lost in GDP and won’t be recovered.
As a result, when the US Federal Open Market Committee is expected to leave interest rates unchanged during their meeting on Wednesday this week.
This is good news all round – American workers are getting paid again and a hold on US interest rates means less downward pressure on the Aussie dollar.