Good morning, it’s Friday, May 26 and you’re on the ABC’s markets and business blog — it’s great to have your company!

Let’s start with some big news from overnight that affects us all — the US government is one step closer to striking a deal to raise the debt ceiling as the risk of default grows larger.

The White House confirmed US President Joe Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy held a virtual meeting to negotiate spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.

Reuters is reporting that the deal would specify how much the government could spend on discretionary programs (think housing and education) — but Biden told reporters that he and McCarthy disagreed on where the cuts should fall.

“I don’t believe the whole burden should fall back to middle-class and working-class Americans,” he said.

As for how close a deal is? Reuters says the opposing sides are just $US70 billion apart on a total figure that could end up being well over $US1 trillion — but X-date (or the final date before the US runs out of money) is rapidly approaching.

Sticking in the US, and Wall Street closed higher thanks to a frenzy on tech stocks, led by a major forecast from Nvidia.

The chipmaker (which is the world’s most valuable) forecast that its quarterly revenue will be 50% higher than its estimates, and is increasing its supply to meet growing demand for its AI chips.

Data from Refinitiv shows that investors exchanged close to $US60 billion worth of Nvidia’s shares — which represented a fifth of all trading in S&P 500 stocks during the session.

And it wasn’t just Nvidia that benefited from the tech boost, with Microsoft and Alphabet (Google’s parent company) also seeing a rise in their stocks.

Meanwhile back home, we can expect the ASX to open lower for its final trading session for the week.

Let’s get into it and see how the day shakes out, shall we?

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