Broker Regulation

The budget agreement Congress reached Wednesday cheered investors and removed the threat of a catastrophic debt default that could have triggered another recession.

For the first month alone, the Obama administration projected nearly a half million people world sign up for the new health insurance markets. But that was before the markets opened to a cascade of computer problems.

So now we have a debt deal. Another day, another manufactured crisis averted.

The Obama administration's internal projections called for strong enrollment in the states in the first year of new health insurance markets, according to unpublished estimates obtained by The Associated Press. Whether those expectations will bear out is unclear.

Congress passed and sent a waiting President Barack Obama legislation late Wednesday night to avoid a threatened national default and end the 16-day partial government shutdown, the culmination of an epic political drama that placed the U.S. economy at risk.

A spokesman for Speaker John Boehner says the House will vote Tuesday night on legislation that would reopen the government and avert a financial default.