Sunday, September 24, 2023
How Would a Government Shutdown Impact the Stock Market?, 24 SEPT
Last night, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy sent Representatives home for the weekend. That’s right, even though the House has failed to pass a defense bill and is on the verge of shutting down the government because of their inability to pass a funding bill, they finished their week on Thursday. And then they wonder why they are less popular than toenail fungus and cockroaches.
There is, understandably, widespread frustration with the situation, especially among the Republicans who aren’t part of the holdout. The accepted line is that their party is being held hostage by a few extremists, but honestly, if the views of those extremists didn’t have support of a big section of the party’s base and the majority of party members in their own districts, they would have given up on this a long time ago. Instead, they live in a world where what they are doing is seen as heroic rather than foolhardy and shutting down the government would be considered a victory for them.
For everyone other than the extremists, though, it would be a disaster. It would do damage to the Republican Party as a whole, with Democrats saying that it proves their point. They maintain that the Trump era Republican Party is in the sway of forces that will risk national security and economic stability in pursuit of their extreme ideological goals and is thus, to all intents and purposes, incapable of governing. That may be an excuse for their own partisan behavior and the Democrats’ failure to come up with a solution here, but it is hard to argue against that when the U.S. military is being crippled and a shutdown is on the cards.
However, the potential damage to the Republican Party is not what we as investors should be worried about, whatever our politics and wherever the blame lays for this mess. Instead, investors should be concerned about the impact of all of this on the market, and for that to be significant, this time would have to be different from previous shutdowns and close calls of shutdowns. “Starving the beast” has been a Republican tactic for a long time now, and shutdowns have been threatened and have even happened as a result but, to this point, the damage has always been limited and markets have recovered quickly.
Typically, what has happened in the past is that shutdowns have been averted at the last minute. Some concessions are made, and a compromise is reached just before time runs out. The threat causes a selloff of sorts, but once a deal is done, all of the lost ground is regained. There is an argument, though, that this time is different. The Republican majority in the House is slim enough that a relatively small number of rebels can prevent the passage of a bill; assuming, of course, that Speaker McCarthy doesn’t enlist the help of Democrats. More than that, though, this particular group of rebels seems singularly unphased by the possibility of benefitting the enemies of America, or of crashing the global economic system.
If that is the case, then we need to look at a recent time when a shutdown actually occurred for clues as to what to expect this time around. The Tea Party Republicans who forced a sixteen day shutdown in 2013 may be less extreme than the rebels of today, but their rhetoric was equally aggressive and bombastic, and they did hold out past the date when funding ran out. The chart for the S&P 500 during that shutdown, though, is the main reason why investors should not be too worried this time around. The two candles marked by blue arrows on the chart below represent the two weeks during which the government was shut down. As you can see, while there was a drop (see the long “tail” on the bottom of the second candle), it didn’t last and it was followed by a strong rally.
I suppose you could say that another difference here is that the Fed has been raising rates and looks like continuing to do so, so the economic impact of a shutdown on an already weakened economy will be exaggerated. That could be true, but the above chart suggests that the impact of the shutdown in 2013 was zero, and even an exaggerated nothing is still nothing.
While there are reasons not to be massively bullish on stocks right now, both history and logic suggest that the inability or unwillingness of politicians to do their job is not one of them. As a result, any weakness we may see next week as the September 30 deadline approaches will be a buying opportunity, at least from a short-term trading perspective.
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/how-would-a-government-shutdown-impact-the-stock-market
"RV UPDATE" BY MILITIAMAN & ANGEL1, 24 SEPT
Militia Man
They're really serious about this investing aspect of Iraq...The meeting with the US Secretary of State discussed the activation of the Strategic Framework Agreement, the entry of American companies and the resumption of oil exports through the Turkish port...They're going to help Iraq to be supportive of their currency and the value of that currency because all the income streams are going to be able to support Iraq to get investment projects done...
Iraq has been in the UN in New York since the 18th... doing things like The Path of Development which is going to shape the face of Iraq's county in the next stage...It's going to be a post oil era...their path to prosperity and growth...Sudani coming to New York is an instrumental step and we'll see if that is THE step that is going to be the beginning...
Sudani Quote from UN speech "The time has come for Iraq to take its natural place in the International community..." Sudani is saying it's time for us to open up to the world...He said it to the UN...to the World....Iraq is going international how can you deny it? It's completely phenomenal...
Angel1
I do not believe we will get out of September and I do not believe we will see a rate change while Sudani is out of country...This week we focus on the international world. We focus on Iraq's reach. And where is Iraq's reach? At our banks. That's where we are.
Iran and Iraq are discussing the implementation of agreements signed in the field of communications, 24 SEPT
Iran and Iraq are discussing the implementation of agreements signed in the field of communications
Yesterday, Saturday, the Iranian ambassador to Baghdad, Muhammad Kazem Al-Sadiq, praised the achievements of the agreements with Iraq, pointing to an agreement in the field of communications that contributed to reducing the costs of phone calls for Iranian visitors.
Iranian media, followed by Al-Iqtisad News, reported that “the Iranian ambassador to Iraq discussed with the Minister of Communications, Hiyam Al-Yasiri, the mechanisms for implementing the agreements signed between Tehran and Baghdad in the field of communications.”
She added, “In the meeting, the Iranian ambassador touched on the successful reception by the Iraqi government and people of the Arba’een visitors,” noting that “this cooperation, especially by the Iraqi Ministry of Communications, with the Iranian parties in serving the Arba’een visitors is a clear example of commitment to the agreements between the two countries.”
According to Iranian media, Communications Minister Hiyam Al-Yasiri announced Iraq’s readiness to implement the agreements between the authorities of the two countries as soon as possible.
According to the Iranian side, providing communications, Internet and data facilities, as well as reducing the costs of phone calls for Iranian visitors, are among the achievements of the agreements of the two parties in order to better hold the Arbaeen ceremonies. link
The Iraqi Central Bank issues a number of new instructions, 24 SEPT
The Iraqi Central Bank issues a number of new instructions, 24 SEPT
On Sunday, the Central Bank of Iraq announced new instructions for selling USD.
The governor of the bank, Ali Al-Alaq, stated that the rate of verified transfers has exceeded 95%. He also emphasized that the bank is committed to establishing direct channels of communication for Iraqi banks with their foreign counterparts in order to facilitate correspondence and commercial exchange.
He mentioned that starting next year, all internal commercial and other transactions in Iraq will be restricted to Iraqi dinar instead of the dollar.
Al-Alaq has announced that the majority of merchants have now entered into official transfer channels and are providing the dollar at the official price of (1320) dinars in Iraq. The new system of external transfer and sale of the dollar provides protection from risks for all parties involved in the operations.
He highlighted that Riyada Bank will serve as a gateway for those interested in launching small-scale productive and commercial projects that contribute to the growth of the local economy and the reduction of unemployment rates.
-
Frank26 [Bank story] This time we didn't go down, we just called [the bank]... We said we want to see if we can exchange some cu...
-
Bank appointment for Currency EXCHANGE Instructions/Checklist Bank Name_________________________________________ Bank 800#____________...
-
Walkingstick All these meetings that the CBI had with all these agencies that were helping them with their monetary reform are done. Al...