Looking Ahead: September 30 through October 4, 2013

Investors were cautious last week as they monitored the ongoing battles in Washington DC over the budget for the new fiscal year beginning October 1st and raising of the debt ceiling which needs to be done by October 17. Little attention was paid to economic data. The Reserve Bank of Australia, Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank meet this week. Policy changes are not expected. A slew of new economic data will be released including Japan’s important Tankan report as well as manufacturing, services and composite purchasing managers’ indexes for Eurozone members, the UK, U.S., Japan and India. However, focus will continue to be on the U.S. Congress and decisions about the budget and then the debt ceiling. The repercussions of these decisions will reverberate globally.