At the last minute, the U.S. government once again averted a shutdown. President Joe Biden signed a funding legislation. This will keep the U.S. government in operation until March 14, 2025.
The Senate voted 85 to 11 last Saturday morning to approve the measure. Unfortunately, the lawmakers did not agree on a funding plan that would last until September. This will set another shutdown-related risk. Still, investors may ignore this risk. Instead, focus on what is in the stopgap spending bill.
The government will spend $100 billion in aid related to natural disaster relief. This is good for infrastructure firms. Investors may consider engineering and construction firms like Mastec (MTZ), Emcor (EME), or Aecom (ACM).
The government increased Social Security benefits for more than two million Americans. This benefits schoolteachers. It should help firms in the household supply market like Newall Brands (NWL), Procter & Gamble (PG), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), and Kimberly-Clark (KMB).
The government is increasing benefits to more than 70,000 people in Louisiana. However, the Congressional Budget Office forecasts that the legislation will increase the federal deficit by $196 billion over the next ten years. As funding commitments rise in general, the U.S. debt will continue to hurt Treasury Bonds.
Last week, the 20+ Year Bond (TLT) lost 2.04%. The 7-10 Year Bond ETF (IEF) fell by 0.83%.
