Don't think this has been posted on yet, but it does seem that while the government shutdown continues when it comes to the debt ceiling, Boehner has said that he would bring a debt ceiling vote to the floor, and let it pass with a mix of Democratic and Republican members. This is according to the NY Times. While this violates the "Hastert Rule" in which the Republicans have an unwritten code that the Speaker would only bring up votes that have a majority of Republican "yeas". At the same time, the ramification of a lapse of the debt ceiling would hurt financial markets much moreso than the gov't shutdown, and therefore carries more weight for market participants. The expected date for the debt ceiling to be hit is October 17th. This likely eases some of the pressure on financial markets, and has helped keep US equities supported since the news started circulating yesterday. - Nick