Markets will react 'adversely' if no debt deal: Obama

Financial markets will "start reacting adversely fairly quickly" if no deal is reached to raise the US debt ceiling and rein in spending, President Barack Obama warned Tuesday. "If we don't have a basic spirit of cooperation that allows us to rise above immediate election year politics and actually solve problems, then I think markets here, the American people and the international community are going to start reacting adversely fairly quickly," Obama told journalists. He said so far "the markets have shown confidence that leadership here in Washington are not going to send the economy over a cliff." But he warned against "political posturing" saying that such confidence could quickly evaporate. Obama also told journalists at the White House that some progress had been made in bridging differences to agree a deal to raise the $14.29 trillion debt ceiling while reining in the nation's ballooning deficit. US lawmakers and the administration have until August 2 to reach a deal or risk the world's top economy defaulting on its debt payments.