• Stocks began the government shutdown with a rise. Markets moved higher, perhaps a reflection that the effects of the stalemate were already priced into equities. Already 800,000 government workers have been furloughed because of the shutdown. Meanwhile, consulting firm IHS estimates the shutdown will cost more than $300 million a day in lost economic output. It also says a weeklong shutdown could shed 0.2% off the quarterly reading on GDP.

    The shutdown is already having an effect on scheduled government data reports. A release on construction spending for August was canceled this morning. In addition, the Labor Department says it won't be issuing the monthly jobs report on Friday if the shutdown persists.

    POLL: Who is more likely to emerge as the perceived winner of the government shutdown?

    Walgreen (WAG) rose 4% on its quarterly earnings which were released ahead of the opening bell. The drug store giant says it made adjusted earnings of 73-cents a share, beating estimates by a penny.

    Read More »from Stocks React to Shutdown with a Rise; Walgreen Climbs on Robust Earnings
  • Even when “the markets” purportedly freak out over exasperating political headlines and the impassivity of Congressional adversaries, only a tiny, unappointed cohort of traders presumes to express alarm on behalf of investors.

    Reuters

    Small, fleeting trades in off-hours or obscure corners of the markets are commonly cited as proof of Wall Street’s assertive reaction to developments such as the government shutdown or impending debt-limit deadline.

    But while the trades count and the prices to some degree reflect the new information, those calling in the buy and sell orders hardly amount to a representative quorum of market players.

    The weekend action

    Consider the action of this past weekend, when Congress (more or less predictably) failed to knit together an agreement to avoid a government shutdown before the end of its fiscal year. When the CME Group’s (CME) Globex electronic exchange opened for trading Sunday evening, the E-Mini S&P 500 stock-index futures immediately gapped lower by almost

    Read More »from Twitchy Traders Overstate Market Alarm Over DC Noise
  • Obamacare insurance exchanges are now live and open for enrollment despite reports of technical glitches that will affect residents in certain states. So what does this mean for consumers and for health care insurance more broadly?

    John Kingsdale, who helped create and run Mitt Romney's heath care reform program in Massachusetts and has consulted with the Obama White House, says the exchanges are simply health insurance “stores” set up by states or the federal government. He tells The Daily Ticker that these exchanges make insurance transparent and easy to shop for, especially for the 5% to 10% of Americans who are uninsured.

    Related: Obamacare Could Mean Steep Rate Hikes in These Four States

    Kingsdale, who is currently helping some states set up their exchanges, says there "will be a whole bunch of delays" that will happen initially in October though the program is going “reasonably well.” In his view, the six-month window for enrollment is long enough that the glitches won’t make a

    Read More »from Obamacare: The World’s Most Complex Health Care System Made Even More Complex
  • Warren Buffett wins again! At some point today Warren Buffett is set receive 13.6 million shares of Goldman Sachs (GS) for no money down. With Goldman Sach's stock changing hands for just over $158 today, that means Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) will get around $2.15 billion worth of stock making it one of Goldman's top 10 biggest stakeholders.

    The shares are the final payout from a much ballyhooed deal Buffett struck with Goldman in September 2008, near the start of the financial meltdown. At the time the investment was billed as a $5 billion "cash infusion" in Goldman. The day after the the agreement was announced Goldman further infused itself with shareholder money when it doubled the size of its share sale to to the general public to $5 billion.

    Through the patina of time, Berkshire's windfall is being viewed as the result of Buffett's oft-stated strategy of being "greedy when others are fearful." Coupled with Buffett's other investments at the time of the crisis, the lesson being peddled to Main Street investors is how the key to making money is to buy stocks when the markets are at their most volatile.

    Related: Buffett Untarnished: Even Kass Couldn’t Slay the Dragon, Says Hagstrom

    As is the case with so many things about the Oracle of Omaha, the legend and the facts have a complicated relationship. As Lee Munson of Portfolio LLC points out in the attached video, Buffett has a bigger playbook than the folks at home. "People have to remember that while it's wonderful that we have a cheerleder for American Capitalism, this is guy has his own set of rules."

    Read More »from How Buffett’s “Golden Rules” Garnered Big Goldman Profit

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