WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. partial government shutdown, stretching into its 24th day on Monday, is expected to delay initial public offerings (IPOs) and takeovers that require national security and antitrust reviews, adding to uncertainties over Wall Street.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an interagency committee that conducts national security reviews on transactions involving foreign investment, has halted its operation due to a lapse in appropriations.
Meanwhile, understaffing resulting from mandatory furloughs, or unpaid leave, at the Federal Trade Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Justice could slow antitrust reviews and thus delay planned IPOs by some companies.
The shutdown has affected a quarter of the federal government, forcing about 420,000 "essential" employees to work without pay, while 380,000 others are furloughed.
During the week ending Friday, no IPOs were priced on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
The SEC has suspended reviewing IPO filings during the shutdown, and said on its website that it will have "a very limited number" of staff members available to respond to "emergency situations" involving market integrity and investor protection, including law enforcement.
The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, with their limited staff, could still review mergers in order to prevent anti-competitive, deceptive, and unfair business practices.
Besides delayed IPOs and takeovers, Wall Street investors are also dismayed by a lack of economic data, as the lengthy government shutdown has held up the release of key data from certain agencies such as the Commerce Department's Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis.
If continued, the shutdown will affect the issuing of information on consumer spending, housing starts, budget deficit, international trade, and even the economic growth rate in the fourth quarter, to be released later this month.
Since the partial government closing started Dec. 22, the White House and the Democratic congressional leaders have held several rounds of negotiations over border security and wall funding, the sticking point in the shutdown, but appeared to get no closer to solving the budget impasse.
According to an estimate by S&P Global Ratings on Friday, if the shutdown lasts for another two weeks, it will cost the economy more than 6 billion dollars, surpassing the 5.7 billion dollars President Donald Trump has demanded to fund his proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall. As of Friday, the U.S. economy had lost 3.6 billion dollars, according to S&P.
