The non-release of official U.S. labor market figures because of an ongoing federal government shutdown looms over the new trading week, along with the Supreme Court, which is expected to hear arguments on the legality of sweeping U.S. tariffs. Advanced Micro Devices and Palantir are set to report their latest quarterly returns, while the outcome a Bank of England interest rate decision is somewhat uncertain.

1. U.S. data blackout continues

Attention now turns to the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, which is flirting with becoming the longest such closure in American history.

Crucially, the shutdown has left investors without a range of critical data points needed to suss out the state of the U.S. economy. Although a reading of inflation for September was released late last month, separate key measures of job growth have not been published.

Federal Reserve policymakers have also been left without data normally used to calibrate interest rates, a fact that has contributed to a muddled outlook for borrowing costs over the rest of 2025. Following a 25-basis point drawdown in rates last week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that officials could become more cautious about further cuts should it face a dearth of job and inflation reports.

The trend could continue this week, depriving markets of the latest nonfarm payrolls report, an all-important gauge of employment in the world’s largest economy that is typically released on the first Friday of every month. A tracker of job openings and labor turnover is also set to be postponed.

Despite a recent raft of consequential events -- most notably, the Fed decision, high-profile mega-cap tech sector earnings, and crunch trade talks between the U.S. and China -- the shutdown has partially left investors without a roadmap for the final two months of the year, analysts at Vital Knowledge said in a note. "[I]n some ways, people are feeling even more confused than before," they added.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that lawmakers in Washington were making some progress toward a deal to end the shutdown, although President Donald Trump’s demand that Republican senators effectively bypass Democrats in the chamber to reopen the federal government has cast doubt over these discussions.

2. Supreme Court to hear arguments on legality of Trump tariffs

Trump’s sweeping tariff policies could once again come to the forefront this week, when the Supreme Court hears arguments around the legality of the levies.

The case has been brought before the Supreme Court after lower courts ruled that the president had surpassed his authority by employing emergency federal measures to enact the elevated tariffs on a slew of countries.

Whether the court’s 6-3 conservative majority finds in favor of the Republican president’s use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, is unclear, although the Supreme Court has repeatedly sided with Trump in other key decisions so far this year.

Trump is the first U.S. president to employ IEEPA as legal backing for tariffs, citing a $1.2 trillion U.S. goods trade deficit in 2024 as well as American deaths from the painkiller fentanyl.

Should the tariffs be struck down, Trump would be left without a tool he has utilized in negotiations with foreign nations throughout his second term in office.

3. AMD earnings ahead

On the earnings calendar, Advanced Micro Devices is set to be the latest artificial intelligence chipmaker to report its latest quarterly results following an intense round of AI dealmaking.

According to Reuters, the U.S. Department of Energy created a $1 billion partnership with the semiconductor group last month to construct two supercomputers necessary to address large scientific problems like cancer treatments and national security.

Meanwhile, AMD has said it would supply AI chips to OpenAI as part of a multi-year deal that would both generate billions of dollars in annual revenue and grant the ChatGPT-maker access to about a 10% stake in the firm.

Yet the deal joined a host of similarly-circular arrangements which have fueled concerns around the possible emergence of an AI bubble reminiscent of the dotcom boom in the late 1990s. Such deals have become increasingly more common, driven by the AI industry’s need to fund and expand computing power to meet ever-rising demand for cutting-edge AI models.

Executives at AMD, a major rival to AI-darling Nvidia, said the OpenAI agreement was "certainly transformative" for both the business and the wider AI industry.

Shares of AMD, which is expected to report after the closing bell on Wall Street on Tuesday, have soared by more than 112% so far this year.

4. Palantir to report

Data analytics giant Palantir Technologies is also slated to report this week, with the returns due out after markets close on Monday.

In August, the company, whose operations also involve software for the the defense sector, lifted its full-year revenue forecast for the second time in 2025, citing strong demand for its AI-linked services from both businesses and governments.

A Trump administration focus on bolstering national security, as well as a change in Pentagon purchasing plans toward commercial and "non-traditional" suppliers, has further boosted the group.

Shares of Palantir have more than doubled so far this year, reflecting investor wagers that the firm will be at the forefront of the AI boom and a major beneficiary of increased U.S. spending on defense-related technology.

Palantir is anticipated to post third-quarter operating profit of $255.6 million on revenue of $1.09 billion, according to Bloomberg consensus estimates.

5. Bank of England decision

While last week’s Fed rate cut and European Central Bank and Bank of Japan policy holds were widely anticipated by markets, the Bank of England’s announcement later this week is far from locked in.

Markets are now anticipating that rates will remain unchanged at the BoE this week, although there was still a roughly one-in-three chance that the central bank will ease by a quarter of a percentage point.

Leaving borrowing costs steady would mark the first slowdown in a cycle of policy loosening which began last year. But some analysts now anticipate a potential drawdown because of recently softer-than-expected -- albeit relatively elevated -- consumer price inflation and wage data.

The BoE has consistently slashed rates every three months since August last year, yet Governor Andrew Bailey said in September that the path ahead is "more uncertain."