End of cliff talks dampens markets
All three major indexes fell after House Republicans called off a vote on tax rates.
NEW YORK - Investors sent Washington a reminder Friday that Wall Street is a power player in talks that seek to avoid the fiscal cliff.
Stocks fell sharply after House Republicans called off a vote on tax rates and left federal budget talks in disarray 10 days before sweeping tax increases and government spending cuts take effect.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 120.88 points to close at 13,190.84, a decline of 0.9 percent. Other indexes posted comparable losses. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 13.54 points to 1,430.15. The Nasdaq composite index declined 29.38 to 3,021.01.
Other markets registered their concern, but the reaction was not extreme. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 0.04 percentage point to 1.76 percent.
The price of gold, which some investors buy when fear overtakes the market, climbed, but only by 0.9 percent. Gold rose $14.20 to $1,660.10 an ounce.
Among big moves:
Walgreen, the nation's largest drugstore chain, slumped 3.3 percent, to $36.31. It filled fewer prescriptions and absorbed costs tied to acquisitions and Hurricane Sandy. The results were worse than financial analysts had been expecting.
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion dropped 15.8 percent, to $11.74. The company said it won't generate as much revenue from telecom carriers once it releases the BlackBerry 10.
Nike, the world's largest maker of athletic gear, jumped 6.2 percent, to $105.10. It said strong demand in North America led to a 7 percent increase in revenue in the three months ended Nov. 30, balancing out economic weakness in Europe and a slowdown in growth in China.