Is there an end in sight to the government shutdown?

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government shutdown entered its seventh day with no end in sight as the prospect of a U.S. default loomed, sending global stock markets downward.

Lawmakers appeared to be making little headway in raising the U.S. debt ceiling, after the top Republican in Congress ruled out any measure to boost the nation’s borrowing authority without concessions from President Barack Obama.

The U.S. must increase its debt ceiling by Oct. 17 or face the possibility of defaulting on its debts, a move that would shake the global economy and financial markets.

Most analysts believe a deal between Republicans in Congress and the White House to avoid default would be reached in time, but investors remain nervous.

Wall Street braced for further falls at Monday’s open with Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures down 0.9 percent.

The No. 2 House Democrat said Monday that fear among moderate Republicans about the party’s conservative tea party wing was extending the standoff.

Congressman Steny Hoyer said he believes 140 to 160 of the 232 House Republicans “think what’s being done right now is irrational.” Hoyer told MSNBC Monday these lawmakers are “looking over their shoulders” at potential primary challenges from tea party-backed candidates.

Hoyer said Republican friends have told him privately that they don’t understand the uncompromising position taken by the more conservative members of their caucus, lawmakers who have fallen into line with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and others.

Hoyer said the partial government shutdown now in effect is different from past closures “because this is a tactic. This is not a result of the inability to get an agreement.”

Cruz, a force in pushing Republicans to link changes to Obama’s health care law in exchange for keeping the government running, spelled out his conditions for raising the borrowing authority.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew warned Sunday that the budget brinkmanship was “playing with fire” and implored Congress to pass legislation to re-open the government and increase the nation’s $16.7 trillion debt limit. Lew reiterated that Obama has no intention to link either bill to Republican demands for changes in his 3-year-old health care program, which launched its online markets this week and is at the center of the impasse.

A defiant John Boehner, Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, insisted Sunday that Obama must negotiate if the president wants to end the shutdown and avert a default that could trigger a financial crisis and recession that would echo 2008 or worse. The 2008 financial crisis plunged the U.S. into the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Boehner also said he lacks the votes to pass a temporary spending bill that would keep the government operating.

The shutdown has pushed hundreds of thousands of workers off the job, closed national parks and museums and stopped an array of government services.

The one bright spot on Monday is a significant chunk of the furloughed federal workforce is headed back to work. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered nearly 350,000 back on the job, basing his decision on a Pentagon interpretation of a law called the Pay Our Military Act.