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October 8, 2013: U.S. markets opened virtually flat Tuesday morning but that quickly switched to another sell-off. The lack of a solution to the federal government shutdown and the approaching federal debt limit continue to dominate traders’ thinking. A report from Gallup showed economic confidence took its second-largest fall since 2008 last week.

Asian markets closed mixed today, while European and Latin American markets closed lower.

Wednesday’s calendar includes a speech by Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and the following scheduled data releases and events (all times Eastern):

• 7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
• 10:00 a.m. – Wholesale trade (not expected to be released due to government shutdown)
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
• 1:00 p.m. – 10-year note auction
• 2:00 p.m. – FOMC minutes released

Here are the closing bell levels for Tuesday:

• S&P500 1,655.45 (-20.67; -1.23%)
• DJIA 14,776.53 (-159.71; -1.07%)
• NASDAQ 3,694.83 (-75.54; -2.00%)
• 10YR TNOTE 2.64% (-0.09375)
• Gold $1,324.60 (-0.50; flat)
• WTI Crude oil $103.49 (+0.46; +0.5%)
• Euro/Dollar: 1.3573 (-0.0009; -0.07%)

There were no earnings of note on Tuesday. Quarterly earnings results begin in earnest after markets close Tuesday with reports from Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) and Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM).

Stocks on the Move: J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) is up 0.8% at $7.77 after releasing weak but not terrible September sales figures and seeing the stock rise as high as $8.25 before saner minds took over. EnteroMedics Inc. (NASDAQ: ETRM) is up 8.6% at $1.27 on a doubling of its price target at one analyst firm. Tower Group International Ltd. (NASDAQ: TWGP) is down 40.8% at $4.39 after announcing the company would hike its reserves. Jamba In. (NASDAQ: JMBA) is down 18.8% at $10.94 after issuing weak guidance.

In all, 42 NYSE stocks put up new 52-week highs today, while 52 stocks posted new lows.