WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s economy on the line, President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans groped inconclusively Thursday for a compromise to avert an unprecedented U.S. default as early as next week and end the 10-day-old partial government shutdown.

“We expect further conversations tonight,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said cryptically at nightfall, after he, Speaker John Boehner and a delegation of other Republicans met for more than an hour with Obama at the White House.