Can Wall Street avoid another fiscal cliff?
By Amy Scott
U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks about the launch of the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces and the first federal government shutdown in 17 years in the Rose Garden of the White House October 1, 2013 in Washington, DC. House Republicans and Senate Democrats continue to volley legislation back and forth as they battle over a budget to keep the government running and delaying or defunding ‘Obamacare.’ President Obama is expected to sit down Wednesday with members of the Financial Services Forum. The group represents some of the world’s biggest banks and insurance companies — among them Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase. One inevitable topic of conversation: the looming deadline to raise the $16.7 trillion federal debt ceiling. That’s the amount of money the U.S. Treasury can legally borrow to pay its bills. Congress has until October 17 to increase it or risk a potential economic disaster. It won’t be lobbying that gets a divided Congress to work together, says Karen Petrou with Federal Financial Analytics. “I think it’s ultimately going to be the markets that I hope don’t have to teach them a lesson, because it could be a very costly one to all the rest of us,” Petrou says.
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