Wall Street stocks were mixed on Tuesday as investors awaited further clues as to whether the US government shutdown could be inching towards a conclusion. Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) and European stocks edged up despite news that UK borrowing had soared to its highest level for September since 2020.

It comes as White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett raised hopes when he said last night that the shutdown was “likely to end sometime this week.”

There was a clear shift in the Polymarket odds after his comments, with bets falling from a 45% likelihood that the shutdown would last beyond 16 November to 29%. Overall, there is a 49% cumulative chance priced in that there will be a resolution by 3 November.

This is now the third-longest federal work stoppage in US history, and puts the spotlight on Federal Reserve speakers, with investors listening hard for clues to the central bank’s thinking on interest rates ahead of its policy meeting next week.

Senate Republicans are scheduled to meet president Donald Trump for lunch at the White House.

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Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank said: “There’s been a clear shift in that probability distribution towards an earlier end to the shutdown, which has added to hopes that the regular flow of US data might resume soon.”

Traders were also focused on a flood of major earnings reports, headlined on Tuesday by streaming giant Netflix (NFLX) after the bell, and General Motors (GM). The carmaker’s stock surged after GM raised its full-year profit outlook, while Coca-Cola (KO) popped as earnings topped estimates.

Elsewhere, worries about US-China trade tensions also eased as Trump said he expects to reach a “fair deal” when he meets his Chinese counterpart president Xi Jinping in South Korea next week.

In the UK, official data revealed on Tuesday that last month the government borrowed the highest amount on record for any September, apart from 2020 at the height of the COVID pandemic.

The £20.2bn figure marks a sharp increase of £1.6bn from the same month in 2024, as a spike in spending outweighed extra revenues brought in by chancellor Rachel Reeves’ tax raid on employers, and comes as the chancellor struggles to bring public finances under control.

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Total public sector spending climbed by £8.9bn from a year ago to £115.3bn in September. That was weighed against £95.1bn in total tax and other income – an increase of £7.3bn.

It means that since the financial year began in April, the UK has borrowed almost £100bn, the highest since the first year of the pandemic.