Dow, Nasdaq soar on U.S. budget deal Associated Press Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 8:44 pm, Wednesday, January 2, 2013 The "fiscal cliff" compromise, even with all its chaos, controversy and unresolved questions, was enough to ignite the stock market on Wednesday, the first trading day of the new year. U.S. government bond prices fell sharply as investors pulled money out of safe-harbor investments. [...] the VIX, an index that measures investors' expectations of future market volatility, plunged more than 18 percent to 14.68, the lowest close since October. 'Nothing got solved'"Washington negotiations remind me of the Beach Boys song, 'We'll have fun, fun, fun 'til her daddy takes the T-Bird away,' " Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of BMO Private Bank in Chicago, wrote in a note to clients. According to these and other market watchers, investors were celebrating Wednesday not because they love the budget deal that was cobbled together, but because they were grateful there was any deal at all. The House passed the budget bill late Tuesday night, a contentious exercise because many Republicans had wanted a deal that did more to cut government spending. The late-night haggling was a product of lawmakers wanting to avert a sweeping set of government spending cuts and tax increases that kicked in Tuesday, the start of the new year, because there was no budget deal ready. Credit score in jeopardyThe political bickering that's almost certain to persist could have another unwelcome effect: influencing ratings agencies to cut the U.S. government's credit score.