Todays market update

4:10 pm : It was a poor start to the week for the equity market and the same thing could be said for politics in Washington.  The two were inextricably linked today as stock market participants were put off by some revelations from House Speaker Boehner over the weekend that made it sound as if partisan positions are hardening and not easing the closer we get to the October 17 debt limit deadline.

In particular, Mr. Boehner told ABC's George Stephanopolous that:

• the House does not have the votes to pass a clean continuing resolution
• the votes are not in the House to pass a clean debt limit increase; and
• the US is on a path to default because President Obama won't negotiate over the debt ceiling

Mr. Boehner's viewpoints were decried by his opponents as reckless rhetoric.  The bottom-line for the market, however, is that nothing has been done yet with respect to the budget and debt ceiling.  That understanding in turn left many participants sticking to the sidelines on concern that a deal may wait until the last minute.

Even though conventional wisdom holds that a deal will get done and that a worst-case scenario will be averted, the market is nonetheless mindful that a similarly-held position in 2011 didn't stop the S&P 500 from falling 17% between July 22 and August 8 that year.

Not surprisingly, volume was on the light side today as the incentive to participate was taken away by Washington's woes.

An absence of buyers paved a path to a sizable decline when the opening bell rang.  Shortly after the start of trading, the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 dropped 152, 34, and 16 points, respectively.