NORTH AMERICAN & INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS
On Tap: The Fed and Gridlock
By Peter Buchanan
Some of the attention riveted on the Middle East?s shifting political sands could revert to more familiar terrain
closer to home in the week ahead, with the Fed convening on Tuesday and negotiators seeking to hammer out
a deal to avert a federal shutdown after Friday. Markets will also be trying to gauge the longer term economic
and financial implications of Friday?s devastating Japanese earthquake. The short-run economic effects will
clearly be negative but reconstruction could lift growth down the road, if the 1995 Kobe quake is any guide.
