Dominic Rushe, Dan Roberts and Paul Lewis
The Guardian
September 30, 2013
US stock markets fell sharply on Monday as deadlock in Congress appeared increasingly likely to lead to the first partial shutdown of the federal government in almost two decades.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost close to 140 points as the markets opened (0.91%) and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq exchanges were all down close to 1% in early trading before recovering slightly.
The Democrat-controlled Senate was expected to vote later on Monday on a resolution passed in the early hours of Sunday morning by the Republican-dominated House of Representatives, which makes funding the government until the middle of December contingent upon a one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act. It also strips the new healthcare law, which is due to come into force on Tuesday, of a key tax on medical devices.
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