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Morning Market Movers: Everything Focused on Debt Ceiling Vote

Jan. 23, 2013 9:20am Becket Adams

Here’s what’s shaking:

Stocks:

Morning Market Movers: Everything Focused on Debt Ceiling Vote

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Stock markets traded cautiously on Wednesday ahead of a U.S. vote on raising the nation’s borrowing limit temporarily.

The House is set to vote on a motion to increase the nation’s $16.4 trillion borrowing ceiling for three months. Without congressional action, the Treasury sometime in late February or early March will not have enough money to pay all of its obligations, raising the risk of a first-ever default on the government’s debts.

By late morning in Europe, stock indexes were lacking momentum. Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.2 percent at 6,189.55 while Germany’s DAX rose 0.3 percent to 7,719.21. France’s CAC-40 lost 0.1 percent to 3,737.18.

Corporate earnings in Europe showed a mixed outlook. Consumer goods maker Unilever and pharmaceuticals company Novartis reported good gains, but industrial conglomerate Siemens and software maker SAP saw their earnings drop.

Wall Street, meanwhile, was headed for a weak open. Dow Jones industrial futures were flat at 13,696 while S&P 500 futures were 0.1 percent lower at 1,488.10.

Earlier in Asia, Japanese stocks reacted negatively for a second day to the central bank’s plans for shoring up the economy.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo tumbled 2.1 percent to close at 10,486.99, a day after the Bank of Japan set its target inflation rate at 2 percent and said it would undertake open-ended asset purchases starting in 2014. Some analysts said investors were disappointed that the central bank didn’t take more aggressive measures.

Oil:

The price of oil was steady near four-month highs around $97 a barrel on Wednesday as markets awaited a vote in Congress which would provide a temporary solution to the debt ceiling crisis and avoid America’s first-ever default.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for March delivery was up 13 cents at $96.81 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Price gains were limited by relatively weak monthly data of home sales and manufacturing, which raised concerns about the U.S. economy’s growth prospects.

They were supported, on the other hand, by progress in a pipeline project which would transport crude from Canadian oil sand fields to refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Brent crude, used to price international varieties of oil, was up 6 cents to $112.48 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Markets:

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Featured image courtesy the AP.

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Comments (4)

RaydocX
Posted on January 23, 2013 at 11:31am
the debt ceiling is distration… the real risk is the unfettered Federal spending…
when the debt grows to a level that our tax collection cannot cover the interest, we will by definition default… including upon our ‘entitlements’.

responsible companies had better start looking at ways to maximize their foreign monetary stocks, in order to stave off the Chinese collections agent when they come a’knockin’.

anyone that thinks business can grow and expand in this economy has not considered the taxes in place, the proposed ‘loop hole’ exclusions without real tax reform, and the hidden taxes that Obamacare represents, not to mention the enviornmental impact issues and the threat from unions and community organizers race baiting.

i wish i could offer a hopeful ‘but if…’ except i don’t see one. Hyperinflation is nearer than anyone wants to admit… my only hope is that it hits in time to take down the politicians who have blithely welcomed it, rather than a new group that did not honestly have time to even understand, much less address the situation…

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Tigress1
Posted on January 23, 2013 at 11:04am
Regarding the debt ceiling plan (cutting off the pay for Senators if they don’t come through with a plan) is not strong enough. The Senators are not in the Senate for MONEY, but for POWER. They get plenty of income elsewhere, and probably most of it is never reported. The concept of not getting paid since they didn’t do the work isn’t even complete. Most employers will FIRE people who don’t do the work. They don’t just suspend their pay! The only action that will have any meaning for these Senators is something that takes away their true love – which is POWER. How about if they don’t come up with a budget by April 15, 2013 (Why wait until May? We are losing money daily!) they are FIRED. We hold a special election and get some people in the Senate who WILL do the job!

The argument that a special election will cost too much money is irrelevant. Not having a budget is costing us BILLIONS every day! What’s one more day of spending (when they have wasted at least 4 YEARS of money) if it gets these good-offs out of the Senate and some productive people in there? It will SAVE us much more money in the long run.

FIRE THEM ALL!

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- Tigress1
  Posted on January 23, 2013 at 11:29am
  Correction: It should be “goof-offs” not “good-offs”
  
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hauschild
Posted on January 23, 2013 at 9:38am
Classic! Yet another “Groundhog’s Day”.

Hmmmm….I wonder how THIS one will turn out??? (as I shake my head in sheer incredulity)

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