For more than 40 days, U.S. government agencies had been paralyzed by the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. That impasse has just been resolved, triggering a surge in global stock markets.
End of the U.S. government shutdown
Since October 1, the United States has been experiencing a historically long government shutdown, triggered by the inability of Republicans and Democrats to reach an agreement on the budget bill. This situation has just reached an unexpected and favorable resolution on Wednesday, November 12.
Indeed, President Donald Trump has just signed a funding bill, initially approved by the House of Representatives, involving all members of his party, as well as a handful of Democrats clearly eager to put an end to this government shutdown.
It is important to note, however, that this resolution remains temporary, as the bill signed by the U.S. president sets a deadline of January 30, 2026. In other words, negotiations on certain sensitive issues—such as maintaining subsidies for the Obamacare program—will remain very active over the coming weeks.
Many analysts agree on the positive impact of this reopening of U.S. government agencies, mainly because it could spark renewed interest in the market for risky assets. Could this be good news for cryptocurrencies?
European stock markets hit new records
As soon as Donald Trump’s signature was announced, global stock markets saw a notable surge in activity. For example, the CAC 40 closed higher on November 12, following a new all-time high of 8,280.97 points. At the time of writing, that record has already been shattered, with the index now trading above 8,300 points.
The CAC 40 hits an all-time high above 8,300 points
At the same time, the London and Madrid stock exchanges are also hitting historic highs, while Milan is recording a record not seen since 2000, as part of what some analysts identify as “a shift in investment flows toward European stocks, at the expense of U.S. stocks, particularly tech stocks.”
The question now is to assess the upside potential this announcement could have on the price of Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market more broadly. This is particularly relevant given Donald Trump’s recently announced plan to distribute a $2,000 “customs dividend” to all Americans with modest incomes.
The price of BTC has reacted quite unevenly during previous government shutdowns, with a 6% drop during the previous longest shutdown (35 days) triggered by Donald Trump in 2018, during his last term. For now, Bitcoin is down 2% over the past 24 hours.
