STOCKS RALLY ON HOPES FOR A DEAL: Here's What You Need To Know

It's day 14 of the government shutdown.

First, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 15,281.7, +44.6, +0.2%
• S&P 500: 1,708.1, +4.9, +0.2%
• NASDAQ: 3,811.1, +19.2, +0.5%

And now the top stories:

• The government continues to be shut down and the October 17 debt ceiling continues to inch closer.
• Hopes are high that Congress would make some progress on a deal to raise the debt ceiling. However, 3 p.m. ET meeting with President Obama, Vice President Biden, and congressional leaders was abruptly cancelled with 20 minutes advance notice. "And it's a good thing," reported BI's Brett Logiurato citing a Senate aide. "It means both sides are making progress toward a deal."
• Earlier today. the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to economists Robert Shiller, Eugene Fama, and Lars Hansen. From the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: "There is no way to predict the price of stocks and bonds over the next few days or weeks. But it is quite possible to foresee the broad course of these prices over longer periods, such as the next three to five years. These findings, which might seem both surprising and contradictory, were made and analyzed by this year's Laureates, Eugene Fama, Lars Peter Hansen and Robert Shiller."
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