Here's what could happen in markets if the U.S. defaults. Hint: It won't be pretty
Investors are still hopeful that lawmakers will clinch a deal to raise or suspend the debt ceiling. That's because failure to do so could have devastating consequences in markets.
The deadlines! The arm-twisting! The threat of default!
The U.S. may be just days away from being unable to pay its bills, but Wall Street has seen this movie before, and markets seems unbothered — for now.
"One staffer on Capitol Hill likened this, the debt ceiling, to passing a kidney stone," says Libby Cantrill, the head of public policy at PIMCO, which manages some of the world's largest bond funds. "We all know it will pass. It's just a question of how painful
