Stock markets rise on deal to avoid shutdown

Stocks closed higher after U.S. lawmakers reached a tentative deal to avoid another costly government shutdown. The deal could alleviate pressure on the market as the U.S. and China begin talks on their trade dispute.

The S&P 500 gained 34 points, or 1.3 percent, to 2,744. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 372 points, or 1.5 percent, to 25,425. The Nasdaq added 106 points, or 1.5 percent, to 7,414.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10year Treasury rose to 2.68 percent.

Fed Chairman Powell doesn’t see elevated recession risks

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell does not feel the probability of a recession “is at all elevated,” and says that the country is continuing to see solid economic growth.

But in a visit to a historically black university in the Mississippi Delta, Powell says that many rural areas have not benefited from the national prosperity. He says those areas need special support, such as access to affordable credit to start small businesses and high-quality education to train workers.

Powell says in a discussion with students at Mississippi Valley State University that he doesn’t see signs of an economic downturn. He says unemployment remains near a half-century low and describes economic output as continuing at a “solid pace.”

IRS watchdog: Shutdown caused drop in phone help

Disruptions from last month’s partial government shutdown caused a “shocking” deterioration in the IRS’ telephone help for taxpayers in the first week of the filing season, the agency’s watchdog said in a report released Tuesday.

In the week of Jan. 28, the official start of the tax season, Internal Revenue Service staffers answered only 48 percent of calls seeking help in filing returns, with an average wait time of 17 minutes, the report from the office of the National Taxpayer Advocate said. That compares with 86 percent of calls answered, and an average wait of 4 minutes, at the same time last year.

In addition, 93 percent of taxpayers who phoned during the last week in January to arrange installment tax payments were unable to speak with an assistant.

US expects record domestic oil production in 2019, 2020

The U.S. says domestic oil production levels will reach new heights this year and next, and that prices will be lower than they were in 2018.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Tuesday that it expects the United States to pump 12.4 million barrels of crude a day this year and 13.2 million barrels a day in 2020. The January average was 12 million barrels a day, up 90,000 from December.

Most of the increase is expected to come from Texas and New Mexico.

The energy agency expects U.S. benchmark crude to cost less than $55 a barrel this year and $58 next year, down from $65 in 2018. It expects internationally traded oil to be $61 this year and $62 next year, down from $71 in 2018.

40 countries agree cars must have automatic braking

Forty countries led by Japan and the European Union – but not the U.S. or China – have agreed to require new cars and light commercial vehicles to be equipped with automated braking systems starting as soon as next year, a U.N. agency said Tuesday.

The regulation will require all vehicles sold to come equipped with the technology by which sensors monitor how close a pedestrian or object might be. The system can trigger the brakes automatically if a collision is deemed imminent and if the driver doesn’t appear set to respond in time.