📈 Markets & Finance mixed · 6–18 months
A what‑if from the future

What if Continuing-resolution gridlock freezes new-start defense programs?

A prolonged CR with no FY appropriation blocks new program starts and slows obligations, delaying contractor bookings and weighing on defense equities.

28%
our model probability
over 6–18 months
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 28% · 90% range 13–43% · 38 analogues · measured class defense 84% in 18 mo · 3% held back for the unknown
how we built this number — every step
Measured class rate — defense ≈1.2155/yr → 84% in 18 mo84%
Analyst prior · editorial share 36% of the class30%
Pooled · weight 86%29%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)29%
Published28%

The class rate is measured from our dated, sourced event library (decade-normalized Poisson — the full table is public at base_rates.json). The variant’s share within its class is the analyst’s editorial call, published so you can audit it. A wider range means thinner precedent. Full recipe: methodology · scored at Reality Check.

The butterfly cascade

How this trigger trickles across markets, left → right — the root shock, its first‑order moves, then the ripple effects. Drag any node; tap a market for its real price history.

Resolution timeline — how this probability is moving

Our model's odds (gold) over time vs the crowd's (Polymarket, blue), from the past toward the 6–18 months horizon. Each dot is a real macro event that nudged the probability — green pushed it up, red pushed it down. Tap a dot for the source. The gold path is an illustrative reconstruction anchored to today's estimate — real dated events, not a live re-estimate history.

loading the timeline…

What it would mean

If this plays out, it is a mixed shock. A prolonged CR with no FY appropriation blocks new program starts and slows obligations, delaying contractor bookings and weighing on defense equities. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — Defense spending ▼ · Risk appetite ▼ — which propagate through our causal graph to the markets below.

If it happens — the markets it would move

Biggest moves first. Projected moves are cascade-model priors; hist A–B% = what comparable past events actually did (measured abnormal returns), and model prior · unmeasured marks markets with no analogue backing yet. Tap any market for its price history.

MarketClassProjected move
1Lockheed LMT 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.5%
hist -1.32–+1.87% · other way -3.24% (n=12)
2Northrop NOC 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.5%
hist -1.07–+1.62% · other way -1.37% (n=12)
3RTX RTXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.4%
hist -2.33–+0.66% · other way -4.07% (n=12)
4Solana SOLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.3%
hist -1.17–+0.77% · other way +0.89% (n=12)
5Hyperliquid (HYPE) HYPEon HyperliquidCrypto▼ -0.3%
model prior · unmeasured
6MicroStrategy MSTRon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.3%
hist -2.83–+5.77% · other way +26.92% (n=12)
7Ether ETHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.2%
hist -7.25–+2.98% · other way +5.13% (n=12)
8Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -0.2%
hist -0.22–+0.1% · other way -0.37% (n=12)
9Bitcoin BTCon Hyperliquid 📈 chartCrypto▼ -0.2%
hist -4.23–+2.28% · other way +5.17% (n=12)
10Tech sector XLK 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.1%
hist -0.31–+0.66% · other way -0.34% (n=12)

Probable recommendation

If the scenario above plays out, the probable cross‑asset positioning → a scenario‑conditional read, not personalized investment advice
Long
For a common-man portfolio: Mixed for a typical portfolio — the move is more about rotation than direction. Favour the winners over the losers below rather than net exposure.
Also moves (not yet on Hyperliquid): Lockheed -0.5% · Northrop -0.5% · Tech sector -0.1%

Historical precedent — what analogous events actually did

Across 38 analogous events (overlap‑weighted), as abnormal returns — market beta stripped, so it's the event's own effect, not the market backdrop. Shown at 20 days (persistent) and 5 days (immediate); ↺ fades = the two horizons disagree. Confidence = consistency × sample × significance.

Israel strikes Iran — Operation Rising Lion 2025-06 China retaliates to Liberation Day: 34% tariffs + rare-earth controls 2025-04 OPEC abandons output defense, opting for market share vs US shale 2014-11 Operation Sindoor: India strikes Pakistan after Pahalgam attack 2025-05 Gold tops $3,000 for the first time amid tariff and rate-cut fears 2025-03 October 2024 Iranian ballistic-missile attack on Israel 2024-10 Hezbollah pager and device explosions across Lebanon 2024-09 Trump 'Taiwan should pay for defense' chip selloff 2024-07 Wagner Group mutiny against the Kremlin 2023-06 China fires ballistic missiles into Japan's EEZ during Taiwan drills 2022-08 Saudi-Russia oil price war 2020-03 Chinese yuan breaks 7 per dollar; US names China manipulator 2019-08 India's Balakot airstrike inside Pakistan 2019-02 Pulwama attack ignites India-Pakistan crisis 2019-02 Bitcoin Cash hash war capitulation 2018-11 Turkish lira crisis 2018-08 North Korea sixth nuclear test 2017-09 North Korea 'fire and fury' nuclear scare 2017-08 Egyptian revolution / Mubarak uprising 2011-01 2001 Indian Parliament attack 2001-12 US airline stocks plunge ~40% on first trading day after 9/11 2001-09 Kargil War begins 1999-05 Hong Kong HKMA market intervention against speculators 1998-08 Hong Kong defends the peg with sky-high HIBOR 1997-10 Thai baht float / start of the Asian financial crisis 1997-07 Third Taiwan Strait Crisis 1996-03 Black Wednesday / ERM crisis 1992-09 Soviet August coup attempt against Gorbachev 1991-08 Iraqi Scud missile attacks on Israel and Saudi Arabia 1991-01 Tiananmen Square crackdown 1989-06 1986 oil price collapse 1986-02 Reagan assassination attempt 1981-03 Gold peaks at $850 1980-01 Iran hostage crisis / US freezes Iranian assets 1979-11 JFK assassination 1963-11 Cuban Missile Crisis 1962-10 Korean War begins 1950-06 Smoot-Hawley clears the US House 1929-05
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
ETH ETHSHORT-6.8% · 5d -3.9%69%15 0.29✓ matches cascade
Volatility VIXLONG+6.2% · 5d +3.0%66%29 0.27·
High-yield credit HYGSHORT-0.6% · 5d -0.2%66%19 0.25·
RTX RTXSHORT-2.0% · 5d -1.7%58%34 0.15✓ matches cascade
XLK XLKLONG+0.7% · 5d -0.6% ↺ fades60%22 0.15⚠ differs
MSTR MSTRLONG+5.8% · 5d -1.1% ↺ fades53%23 0.05⚠ differs
NOC NOCLONG+1.9% · 5d +1.2%52%31 0.04⚠ differs
10y yield DGS10LONG+2bp · 5d +5bp52%34 0.04·
Bitcoin BTCSHORT-4.2% · 5d -3.0%51%18 0.02✓ matches cascade
LMT LMTLONG+2.2% · 5d +0.1%49%34 0.00⚠ differs
SOL SOLLONG+1.1% · 5d -5.5% ↺ fades45%9 0.00⚠ differs
NDX NDXLONG+0.2% · 5d -0.9% ↺ fades45%31 0.00⚠ differs
Gold XAULONG+0.5% · 5d -0.9% ↺ fades47%21 0.00·
US dollar DXYSHORT-0.1% · 5d +0.1% ↺ fades46%34 0.00·

Methodology. Probability and impact are anchored to history and scored against what actually happens — wins and losses, in public, at Reality Check. Crowd odds live from Polymarket & Kalshi. By Vikas Singh, Quantitative Strategist. Updated 2026-07-03.