by Calculated Risk on 2/10/2014 08:39:00 PM

An update on Congress paying the bills from the WSJ: GOP Leaders in New Push to Reach Debt Deal

House Republican leaders tried Monday to build support for raising the federal debt limit by linking it to a reversal of planned cuts in some military pensions ...

"It's reasonable to attach that provision to the debt ceiling," Rep. Charlie Dent (R., Pa.) said of the military pension provision. "If the votes aren't there for that, then at some point we'll have to vote on a clean bill."

Congress will pay the bills. Everything else is political theater (like the dumb questions for Fed Chair Yellen during her testimony tomorrow). Yawn.

Tuesday:
• At 7:30 AM ET, the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for January.

• At 10:00 AM, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for December from the BLS. Jobs openings increased in November to 4.001 million from 3.931 million in October. The number of job openings were up 5.6% year-over-year compared to November 2012 and this was the first time job openings had been above 4 million since 2008. Quits increased in November and were up about 13% year-over-year. These are voluntary separations, so this is a positive indicator.

• Also at 10:00 AM, Monthly Wholesale Trade: Sales and Inventories for December. The consensus is for a 0.5% increase in inventories.

• Also at 10:00 AM, Testimony, Fed Chair Janet L. Yellen, Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress, Before the House Financial Services Committee, Washington, D.C.