So my hound dog, Loretta, woke me up at 5:30 this morning. As we brewed our morning coffee, my husband said, "Do you think we're shut down?" My response? "Without a doubt." With that, we retired to our warm bed and cranked up Netflix.
Congress appears badly broken, and we just couldn't bear another hour of analysis and hand-wringing. We're in season 3 of the popular show, Breaking Bad, and it seemed a better use of our time to watch fictional criminals and their antics versus watching the real thing. We decided to forego morning TV.
On Monday, the stock market dropped significantly in anticipation of the deadline. Investors already knew what DC was going to do. The shutdown was written in each index in red ink. On Tuesday, markets headed back to green once the inevitable happened.
The length of the stalemate will determine the damage to this quarter's GDP. Of course, we may not even know what the GDP is if we can't get the statisticians back to work! Friday is the day for monthly jobs numbers-- a much anticipated event. After watching the trend in weekly numbers, we were certain they would be good. That piece of data may remain a mystery.
In the long-run, the market will brush off the latest fight in Washington. Business is business, and things will move on. But in the short-run, the crazy play-by-play in Congress will result in plot twists and turns for investors.
I think I'll avoid all news until the whole thing is over-- maybe sometime next Spring. By then, I should be in the final season of Breaking Bad. Better to be entertained by scary criminals than scared to death by the entertaining clowns in Congress!
Independent, Fee-Only Financial Advisor
