October 17th, 2013 10:41 AM by Gary Schiller
Congratulations! Last night the President signed a bill that temporarily funds the Government until January 14, 2014, and temporarily increases the debt limit until February 7, 2014.
Although we hoped that the stock market would surge on this news, stocks have opened lower this morning. We’re in the middle of earnings season, and today IBM reported disappointing earnings, which have negatively affected the market.
Mortgage bonds are in “rally” mode, and today should see lower mortgage interest rates.
Initial jobless claims were reported today at 358,000, which is a decrease of 16,000 from last weeks’ revised figure. This is not a very reliable number, as the reporting does not include the State of California, who didn’t report due to technical issues. It should take a few more days to get the government running again, and to catch up on the reporting that was delayed due to the shutdown.