(As of 7:10 am PST)
Markets are edging lower this morning as investors
dissected the details of a bipartisan budget deal announced late Tuesday. Led by Republican Senator Paul Ryan and
Democrat Patty Murray, the deal would set spending levels for the next 2 years
and would avert another government shutdown next month. The budget must pass the House and Senate but
is seeing positive support from both parties of Congress. Markets are reverting back the “good news is
bad news” theory today viewing the positive budget deal as a further sign that
the Federal Reserve will begin tapering its asset purchases at its Dec. 17-18
meeting. For some time now, fiscal
uncertainty has led investors to believe the Fed would wait to make any policy
changes. With recently improving
economic reports, including better jobs numbers, and now what appears to be a
budget deal, investors are feeling confident the taper is coming soon. There is very little economic data to report
today so investors are choosing to focus on the budget deal. In company news, shares of Mastercard are up
4% after announcing a 10-for-1 stock split, an 83% dividend increase and a $3.5
billion stock buyback. News on
Mastercard has pulled Dow Componenet Visa higher, as well as American
Express. International markets are mixed,
with most indexes in the red. Both gold
and oil are down as is the US dollar. It
appears momentum is shifting to the downside today with more profit taking
underway.
No comments:
Post a Comment