Wall Street was pretty chill through the middle of last week [2]. Once it started calling it became apparent that there was little it could do [3].

The expectation appears to be that Obama will prioritise payments after 17 October to avoid a default. Once a critical point is reached he will use "creative accounting," in the IMF's words, to come up with a solution. Him failing at that, the expectation is the Federal Reserve will find a way to credit the U.S. Treasury's account. All these options, it should be noted, involve the selective suspension of the rule of law - the lesser of the evils.

[1] http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/02/us-usa-fiscal-obam...

[2] http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/complacency-on-wall-s...

[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/business/economy/business-...