Weekly Wrap

Wall Street’s latest reaction to Washington debt ceiling talks

Kai Ryssdal Oct 11, 2013
HTML EMBED:
COPY
Weekly Wrap

Wall Street’s latest reaction to Washington debt ceiling talks

Kai Ryssdal Oct 11, 2013
HTML EMBED:
COPY

The government is still shut down, and the debt ceiling talks are on and off again. Is there an end in sight?

“Everything is still in flux; nothing’s assured yet,” says FT Alphaville’s Cardiff Garcia. “I wouldn’t quite go to the level of calling it a breakthrough, but I think at least we have a welcome signal that lawmakers on both sides understand the severity of a possible debt ceiling breach, and I think that’s why you’re seeing a lot of people be at least a little bit more relieved than they were even a couple of days ago.”

“Relieved is too strong,” countered The New York Times’ Catherine Rampell. “I don’t know, I still feel like you’re hearing comments from some Republicans in Congress that they don’t think a debt ceiling breach would be that big of a deal. You haven’t seen markets freak out, so it’s not as if the financial sector is putting a lot of pressure on congressmen who have that misperception, I would say, about the consequences of a debt default. So it’s still very much up in the air.”

Listen to the full audio for more on the debt ceiling and President Obama’s pick this week for the next head of the Federal Reserve. And we have our #longreads picks for the weekend:

Cardiff chose:

Catherine picked:

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.