Maybe it's because investors are optimistic a deal will be reached. Or maybe it's because they're already expecting the worst.
This time around, though, Wall Street seems to be shrugging off next week's congressional deadline to break the political gridlock that sent financial markets into a tailspin last summer.
"I think the expectations just aren't that high given what we went through in August," said Wells Fargo senior economist Mark Vitner.
The congressional budget "supercommittee," which faces a Nov. 23 deadline to find $1.2 trillion in spending cuts and new tax revenues, was born out of the budget stalemate that sent the financial markets on a wild ride in August.
After transforming a routine debt ceiling increase into a self-imposed deadline, hard-line Republicans squared off against the White House, demanding deep spending cuts, forcing the Treasury to the edge of default As the bitter, partisan battle dragged on, the stock market plunged by 20 percent in a matter of weeks. Since then, stocks have recovered about half the lost ground.
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Comment: "Wall Street seems to have concluded that the sequester is not as scary as originally intended.." That says a lot about who is in control of the United States Government.