Politics

With just one month left until the Treasury "X-date", or the moment when it would run out of cash without a debt-ceiling resolution...

... the time has come for dire, apocalyptic threats to spook Congress into action and specifically reaching a compromise on a debt ceiling resolution, and S&P - which infamously downgraded the US in 2011 during the last debt ceiling fiasco - is happy to be the source of bad news.

In the latest public disagreement between President Trump and his top military advisor, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday said that when it comes to North Korea, diplomatic solutions remain on the table after he was asked to respond to a tweet by President Trump that said "talking is not the answer."

Will be leaving for Missouri soon for a speech on tax cuts and tax reform - so badly needed!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2017

Having in recent weeks boosted his estimate for government shutdown odds to even, or 50%, in a note overnight from Goldman's Jan Hatzius, the bank's chief economists writes that due to the human tragedy from Hurricane Harvey, the odds of a shutdown have been again reduced, back to Goldman's original estimate of 33%.

One day after the latest North Korean missile launch, which was followed by a warning in the state-owned KCNA that more Pacific launches would follow, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) said a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Pacific shot down a medium-range ballistic missile during a test off Hawai on Wednesday.

Destroyer USS John Paul Jones intercepts the target with an SM-6 missile. (Missile Defense Agency photo)