Today's calendar has several events, including the Scottish independence vote.
Final results from Britain aren't due until later this evening, though the outcome could be known earlier. There is no precedent to guide interpretation of the event, which threatens to unwind a political union dating back more than 300 years. A positive secession vote would also be followed by a period of negotiation before specific changes occur.
There are several items of interest in the United States as well. Initial jobless claims, due at 8:30 a.m. ET, are expected to show that 305,000 Americans sought unemployment benefits for the first time, down from 315,000 in the previous week.
August housing starts and building permits are scheduled for the same time. Economists anticipate starts of 1.045 million on an annualized pace, down from 1.093 million the previous month. Permits are forecast to come in at 1.054 million, up slightly from July's 1.052 million reading.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's regional activity index at 10 a.m. ET is expected to fall to 23.5 from 28 in August. Natural-gas inventories round out the economic events 30 minutes later.
ConAgra and Rite Aid report earnings before the opening bell. Oracle, Red Hat, and Tibco Software follow in the afternoon.
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