Global stocks were higher as investors digested the potential effects of the U.S. government shutdown that entered its second day on Thursday.

Wall Street futures were up.

TSX futures were also higher.

A drawn-out government shutdown in the U.S. could delay the release of key economic data, including a monthly payrolls report that had been expected on Friday.

In absence of that data, traders put more stock in a private U.S. labour market report that bolstered Federal Reserve rate cut bets.

“I hope they sort this out rapidly,” Kevin Thozet, investment committee member at asset manager Carmignac, said of the government shutdown.

“It’s like a blind man walking with a blind dog,” he said.

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.75 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 was flat, Germany’s DAX rose 1.26 per cent and France’s CAC 40 was up 1.14 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.87 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.61 per cent.

Brent crude futures gained 0.2 per cent to US$65.48 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate crude added 0.2 per cent to US$61.90 a barrel.

Concerns about more disruption to Russian crude exports lent boosted prices, but worries about oversupply in the market capped gains.

“There is some concern in the market again that Russian oil could get disrupted,” said Giovanni Staunovo, commodity analyst at UBS. “But as long as there aren’t disruptions yet, the moves are small.”

Some analysts attributed the price advance to a technical rebound, after Brent and WTI lost ground the previous day.

In other commodities, spot gold was last at US$3,869 an ounce.

The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart.

The day range on the loonie was 71.68 US cents to 71.77 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was down about 0.85 per cent against the greenback over the past month.

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, lost 0.18 per cent to 97.53.

The euro gained 0.15 per cent to US$1.175. The British pound gained 0.14 per cent to US$1.3495.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was flat at 4.102 per cent.

Japan consumer confidence

Euro zone jobless rate

(7:30 a.m. ET) U.S. Challenger Layoff Report for September.

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. initial jobless claims for week of Sept. 27. Estimate is 230,000, a rise of 12,000 from the previous week.

(10 a.m. ET) U.S. factory orders for August.

(1:25 p.m. ET) Bank of Canada Deputy Governor Rhys Mendes speaks at the Ivey Business School in London, Ont.

With Reuters and The Canadian Press