U.S. stock markets drop Monday morning as debt deadline draws closer
Source: Washington Post
U.S. financial markets fell at the opening Monday, sending a message of concern — but not panic — to Senate leaders who are deadlocked over budget negotiations in Washington with the debt-ceiling deadline just three days away.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped about 70 points in the first hour of trading. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index and the Nasdaq were also down about one-half of one percentage point. U.S. bond markets are closed for the Columbus Day holiday. Foreign markets were mixed overnight, and U.S. futures were down after a jump in markets
Markets had surged Friday on hopes that a deal was near to end the two-week-old government shutdown and raise the federal debt limit. But negotiations mostly foundered over the weekend, leaving the Treasury Department closer to exhausting its borrowing power and leaders in the Senate, House and White House seemingly unable, or unwilling, to bridge the political impasse.
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On Sunday, Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) was pressing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to accept a quicker deadline on a temporary measure to fund federal agencies and reopen the government, and a longer deadline for raising the debt limit,?Democrats familiar with the talks said.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/all-eyes-on-us-stock-markets-as-debt-deadline-draws-closer/2013/10/14/4a2a9992-34be-11e3-80c6-7e6dd8d22d8f_story.html?hpid=z1
Of course, Republicans could simply agree to pass a clean CR and increase the debt limit so that they could negotiate in good faith, but I guess it is too tough to mention that.
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