Sunday Night Futures: The Shutdown and the Damage Done

From MarketWatch: Shutdown puts health of economy on ice

Some economists figure the dispute will only shave a few ticks off growth in the fourth quarter, which began at the start of October. Others see a deeper impact owing to the hesitancy of consumers and businesses to spend in the midst of yet another episode of political brinkmanship.

The scarcity of economic data also makes it harder for the Federal Reserve to figure out its next step.

Total damage has to be in the billions already … where do we send the bill?

Weekend:
• Schedule for Week of October 13th

From CNBC: Pre-Market Data and Bloomberg futures: the S&P futures are down 13 and DOW futures are down 101 (fair value).

Oil prices are down with WTI futures at $101.55 per barrel and Brent at $111.03 per barrel.

Below is a graph from Gasbuddy.com for nationwide gasoline prices. Nationally prices are around $3.37 per gallon.  If you click on “show crude oil prices”, the graph displays oil prices for WTI, not Brent; gasoline prices in most of the U.S. are impacted more by Brent prices.