Friday Afternoon Cheat Sheet: 3 Stories That Moved Markets

The U.S. equity markets started the day off on the wrong foot but found their balance late in the afternoon. Earnings pulled at individual stocks, but at the end of the day it was some positive news out of Washington that rallied investor confidence.

At the close: DJIA: +0.39%, S&P 500: +0.28%, NASDAQ: -0.04%.

Here are three stories that helped frame the markets today:

1) A new chapter has begun in the ongoing United States debt-ceiling debate. House Republicans, fresh off a private policy meeting in Virginia, announced on Friday that they will vote on a short-term increase to the federal borrowing limit.

The Republican proposal would increase the government’s borrowing limit just enough to finance operations through mid-April. This gives Congress a little more breathing room beyond the current deadline for default, which is either late February or early March, depending on how long the Treasury’s extraordinary financing measures last, and Republicans would like to use this time to pass a budget… (Read more.)

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