Monday’s Mid-Day Movers: 3 Stories Driving Markets

The U.S. equity markets were mixed on Monday afternoon, apparently suffering a hangover from a strong performance earlier in the morning.

At 1:00 p.m.: DJIA: -0.15%, S&P 500: -0.29%, NASDAQ: +0.09%.

Here are three stories moving markets on Monday afternoon:

1) Friday is March 1, the deadline for the self-imposed and destructive spending cuts that Congress gave itself a few months ago as part of the fiscal cliff arrangement. The closer the deadline gets, the more inevitable it seems. Some Congressional leaders seem resigned to the reality that America will shoot itself in the foot and deliver a self-inflicted wound designed to be so bad that both parties would work together to avoid it.

Of course, if Congress can do anything, it’s that it can manifest an eleventh-hour solution out of thin air. But, as evidenced by the fiscal cliff tax agreement, that type of deal making is unsatisfying for all parties involved, and often results in short-term patches to major problems, instead of the long-term fixes that are necessary… (Read more.)