Approval on Raising U.S. Debt-Limit Make Markets Up

President Barack Obama said tonight that leaders of both parties in the U.S. House and Senate had approved an agreement to raise the nation’s debt ceiling and cut the federal deficit that must now be sold to Congress.

Congressional leaders are sifting through the details of the tentative bipartisan agreement to raise the debt ceiling by US$2.1 trillion, sufficient to serve the nation’s needs into 2013. They are preparing to sell to members the deal to cut US$917 billion in spending over a decade, raising the debt limit initially by $900 billion, and to charge a special committee with finding another US$1.5 trillion in deficit savings by the year’s end. They confront an Aug. 2 deadline for approval.

While many hurdles remain, “this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit-reduction we need. Most importantly it will allow us to avoid default,” said Obama at the White House. Thanks to the deal, Asia stocks joined the dollar and oil prices climbed, snapping three days of declines, since it is expected to boost the outlook for global lenders and exporters. However, the gold price fell 0.25% to $1,614.10 an ounce at the same period.