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Markets rise even as US government shutdown starts
STEVE ROTHWELL, AP Markets Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Investors stayed calm on the first day of a partial shutdown of the U.S. government Tuesday and sent the stock market modestly higher.
A long-running dispute in Washington over President Barack Obama's health care law caused a deadlock over the U.S. budget, forcing about 800,000 federal workers off the job and suspending all but essential services. With the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Democratic-controlled Senate locked in a stalemate, it was unclear how long a temporary bill needed to finance government activities would be stalled.
Despite the political rancor, investors didn't push the panic button. That suggests that, at least for now, they aren't anticipating that the stalemate will cause enough disruption in the economy to threaten a gradual U.S. recovery and a four-year bull run in the stock market.
"The trend of the economy appears to be in a positive direction," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial Group. "Unless this really gets ugly, we think the markets should start to look ahead to what we believe should be better economic data over the next six to 12 months."
In the latest encouraging news on the economy, a private industry group reported Tuesday that U.S. manufacturing expanded at the fastest pace since April 2011 last month on stronger production and hiring.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 37 points, or 0.2 percent, to 15,165 as of 2:25 p.m. The S&P 500 index gained nine points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,690.
In other trading, the Nasdaq composite rose 31 points, or 0.8 percent, to 3,803.
The tech-heavy index was given a boost by Apple, which rose $10.07, or 2.1 percent, to $486.60, after billionaire investor Carl Icahn told CNBC about his dinner meeting with Apple's CEO Tim Cook. Icahn, who said he has invested $2 billion in Apple, is pushing for Apple to spend $150 billion buying its own stock.
"I feel very strongly that this should be done," Icahn told CNBC. "It's a no-brainer."
The Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed to a record Sept. 18 after the Federal Reserve surprised investors and said that it would continue with its economic stimulus. The index has shed 2 percent since then, falling on seven out of eight days before the shutdown.
"We're not jumping in with both feet but we're selectively putting money to work," said Joseph Quinlan, chief market strategist for U.S. Trust Bank of America Private Wealth Management. "On the other side of the government shutdown, you've got continued support from the Fed and a global economy that's rebounding."
Many investors still predict that the budget fight will be resolved before it spills over into a dispute about raising the nation's borrowing limit. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said last week that the government would run out of borrowing authority by roughly Oct. 17.
The last time the borrowing limit, or debt ceiling, issue came up in August 2011, it led to Standard & Poor's downgrading the United States' credit rating. The Dow went through nearly three weeks of triple-digits moves almost daily.
"To some extent investors are conditioned to a certain amount of drama and if we can get the drama behind us quickly it won't be a big deal," said Dean Junkans, Chief Investment Officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank. "If this goes beyond the middle of next week, the market will get increasingly more worried about the debt ceiling."
In government bond trading, the yield on the 10-year note rose to 2.65 percent from 2.61 percent late Monday.
The price of oil fell 77 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $101.56 a barrel. Gold fell $40.90, or 3 percent, to settle at $1,286.10 an ounce.
The dollar fell against the euro and the Japanese yen.
Among stocks making big moves:
— Merck rose $1.15, or 2.4 percent, to $48.75 after the drugmaker said it plans to cut another 8,500 jobs as part of a plan to reduce its annual costs by about $2.5 billion by the end of 2015.
— Walgreen rose $2.31, or 4.3 percent, to $56.08 after the drugstore chain said its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings soared 86 percent after it booked gains from its method of inventory accounting and its acquisition of a stake in European health and beauty retailer Alliance Boots.
— Ford gained 25 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $17.13 after the automaker said that U.S. sales rose 6 percent in September, with strong car sales making up for slower sales of SUVs.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Obama hails 'historic' launch of health exchanges
JOSH LEDERMAN, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hailing it as an "historic day," President Barack Obama pressed forward his flagship health care program Tuesday, inaugurating new insurance exchanges to expand access for those without coverage despite the shutdown taking hold across much of the government.
Obama said the opportunity to access affordable insurance is life-changing for those who could not do so before the launch of the exchanges, now open for enrollment for six months starting Tuesday. As a sign of how eager Americans were to get started, Obama said more than 1 million people had visited the website before 7 a.m. EDT — exceeding expectations and, in some cases, slowing down the computer systems.
"This is life-or-death stuff," Obama said in the White House Rose Garden, flanked by Americans who plan to enroll through the exchanges. He said tens of thousands of Americans die each year for lack of health insurance, and others go bankrupt. "Today we begin to free millions of our fellow Americans from that fear."
Obama urged Americans to call in or go online, promoting an online system that he said will offer more choices, more competition and lower prices. For that to work, the Obama administration needs tens of millions of Americans — mostly younger, healthy people — to sign up of offset the costs of patients whose health care costs more.
Obama acknowledged there would be glitches in rolling out the program — there have been plenty already — but said that's normal and that the problems will be fixed. The Obama administration hopes to sign up 7 million people during the first year.
Obama's appearance kicked off a major campaign by his administration and its allies to enroll as many Americans as possible through the exchanges, a centerpiece of Obama's health care law.
But any sense of festivity surrounding the opening of the exchanges was quickly eclipsed by the fact that throughout Washington and across the country, much of the federal government was shuttered. Congress, gridlocked over whether to dismantle the law, missed the midnight deadline to keep funding the government.
That meant that hundreds of thousands of federal workers were sent home — including many of Obama's own aides. The White House cut its staff by three-quarters as first partial shutdown in almost two decades began.
That his health care law remained so contentious in Congress three years after he signed it was not lost on Obama. Visibly rankled by Republicans' continued efforts to gut the law and use a shutdown as leverage, Obama denounced House Republicans for what he called an "ideological crusade to deny health insurance to millions of Americans."
"This shutdown is not about deficits, it's not about budgets," Obama said. "It's about rolling back our efforts to provide health insurance to folks who don't have it. It's about rolling back the Affordable Care Act."
"This, more than anything else, seems to be what the Republican Party stands for these days," he added.
Obama's other message to Americans: Shutdown or not, the exchanges remain open. That's because funding for much of the Affordable Care Act, like other "mandatory" functions such as Social Security, air traffic control and national defense, is protected from the whims of Congress.
"It is settled, and it is here to stay," Obama said.
Obama was also deploying top deputies Tuesday to spread the message of newly available health care coverage, the White House said. Vice President Joe Biden will appear on college radio stations. First lady Michelle Obama is publishing an editorial on a women's lifestyle website. And senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett and other officials will be guests on African-American radio shows.
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Associated Press writer Nedra Pickler contributed to this report.
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Reach Josh Lederman at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
NEWS RELEASE - The Eagle Pass Independent School District has ordered the temporary closure of the Austin Elementary building, which is currently housing the Language Development Center, due to strong paint fumes. As a precautionary measure, EPISD is conducting a thorough evaluation of the Austin Elementary building to ensure safety of the students and staff.
Superintendent of Schools, Gilberto Gonzalez has ordered the closure of the building until further notice to ensure the well being of all students and staff.
Beginning Tuesday, Oct. 01, 2013, there will be no classes for the Language Development Center (LDC) until further notice.