Investors pause to see where Washington goes next

By Joshua Freed, Associated Press

Friday, Oct. 11, 2013 | 8:05 a.m.

Wall Street is waiting to see what happens next with debt-ceiling negotiations in Washington, just like everybody else.

Stocks were inching higher in morning trading. The pause followed Thursday's big gains — including the biggest point rise of the year for the Dow Jones industrial average — as investors bet against a U.S. debt default.

Half an hour after trading began, the Dow was up 45 points, or 0.3 percent, to 15,171. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up three, or 0.2 percent, at 1,695. The Nasdaq rose nine points, or 0.2 percent, to 3,769.

A partial government shutdown, which entered its 11th day Friday, pushed the Dow below 15,000 this week before President Barack Obama and House Republicans met on Thursday to talk about the outlines for a deal. Obama planned a late-morning White House meeting Friday with Republican senators, who said they would present options of their own for ending the shutdown.

JPMorgan Chase rose 48 cents, or almost 1 percent, to $53 after its adjusted earnings beat expectations, despite absorbing a $9.2 billion reserve for litigation expenses.

Wells Fargo fell 63 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $40.81 after reporting lower third-quarter revenue as mortgage activity slowed.

Oil prices fell $2.14 to $100.88 following a report that showed growing supplies of oil outside of OPEC.

Stocks in Europe rose, with Britain's FTSE 100 up 0.7 percent, and the German DAX up 0.4 percent.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.66 percent, from 2.68 percent a day earlier.