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.

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

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