STOCKS FALL, GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN IS HOURS AWAY: Here's What You Need To Know

First, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 15,167.2, -91.0, -0.6%
• S&P 500: 1,679.3, -12.2, -0.7%
• NASDAQ: 3,764.5, -16.8, -0.4%

And now the top stories:

• It looks like we're heading for a government shutdown. The fiscal year ends at midnight, and Congress continues to quibble over a budget deal.
• "We put a high probability (four-out-of-five) on nonessential federal government workers staying home on Tuesday," said Morgan Stanley's Vincent Reinhart. "This amounts to about 800,000 employees and would trim annual GDP growth by approximately 15 basis points per week of closing."
• "This sort of political brinkmanship is the dominant reason the [U.S.] rating is no longer 'AAA'," wrote the credit analysts at S&P today. "In our opinion, the current impasse over the continuing resolution and the debt ceiling creates an atmosphere of uncertainty that could affect confidence, investment, and hiring in the U.S."
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