Asian Markets Mixed After Shutdown Fix, Before Busy Week Ahead

Asian markets were mixed Monday morning following big news in the United States over the partial government shutdown and the week ahead that includes a press briefing by the Federal Reserve and a high-level meeting over China's trade with the U.S.

Japan's Nikkei 225 was down about .22%, but Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up by about .65%, the Shanghai Composite Index by about .59% and the FTSE Straits Times Index by about .30%.

Gold futures were up about .25% and oil was down about .32%.

The mixed news comes after U.S. President Donald Trump effectively ended the partial shutdown of the federal government until at least Feb. 15, but it's unclear what will follow. It's also unclear whether the U.S. will release official Gross Domestic Product growth numbers this week as planned because of the shutdown, but Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is slated to speak on Wednesday.

Also, later this week, China's vice premier Liu He, is reportedly slated to visit Washington at the invitation of U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to further negotiate with the Trump administration on tariffs and trade.

But outside the U.S., Asian nations had their own domestic issues to deal with. Japan last week, for example, revealed that its labor ministry had been publishing incorrect statistics and had to correct monthly labor survey data for the past several years, according to the Nikkei Asian Review. Also last week, nine major Japanese companies got threatening letters that are believed to have been contaminated with highly lethal poison, reported the Japan Times.