S&P Cuts US Economic Growth Forecast for 2014

"We've lowered our forecast for U.S. GDP growth in light of the additional sequester [automatic] spending cuts in 2014 as well as the potential for another political standoff in Washington after the October government shutdown," S&P explains. To be sure, Democrats and Republicans in Congress struck a deal Tuesday that reduced some of the automatic spending cuts slated for fiscal 2014, which began Sept. 30. The deal calls for a discretionary budget of $1.012 trillion for the year, compared to the $967 billion amount originally slated under sequestration.