Indicators show little fear of US default First Friday of the month, and no US jobs report. What is a trader to do when government shutdown denies a favourite data fix? Worry about the debt ceiling, perhaps, as another day is ticked off before the Treasury, around mid-October, is unable to pay its debts. Market action suggests investors remain relatively relaxed, unconvinced Washington will be so daft. Sure, the S&P 500 has been soft of late, but opened on Thursday barely 2.5 per cent below its record high. Arguably, that reflects the pricing in of the shutdown's economic impact, ameliorated by the consequent expected extension of Fed assistance. The Russell 2000 index, a gauge of US small capitilisation stocks, which is usually more economically sensitive than larger cap benchmarks, sits pretty much at its best ever level. Little fear there. The CBOE Vix index, which is supposed to measure investors" expectations of equity market volatility over the next 30 days, is well above recent lows but at about 17 is still shy of the 10-year average of 20.1. Finally, US two-year swap spreads, a proxy for bank counterparty risk, are showing no sign of financial sector stress. Is the market sensible or overly sanguine?