The federal government has been partially shut down for about three weeks now. Non-essential civil servants have been furloughed, while many essential government employees are still working but are going to miss their paycheck and possibly even their back wages, Rabobank's economists report.
This week, the EU heads of state and government are gathering in Brussels. A central topic of discussion will be the European Union's rearmament efforts, aiming for Europe to be fully defense-capable, i.e. militarily independent from the United States by 2030.
The US Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the value of the US Dollar (USD) against six major currencies, is retracing its recent gains registered in the previous session and trading around 98.40 during the Asian hours on Monday.