On the day after voters returned President Obama to the White House and kept Democrats in control of the Senate and Republicans in control of the House:
"Investors pulled back sharply ... [amid] rising worries about the upcoming fiscal fight in Congress," The Wall Street Journal writes.
"Now that the election has been decided, investors [are turning] their focus to the $607 billion of tax increases and federal spending cuts set to kick in automatically in January, the so-called fiscal cliff. The Congressional Budget Office has said the U.S. economy would slow by as much as 0.5 percent next year if Congress fails to keep the increases from taking effect."
The result: Stocks are down more than 2 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average is off more than 280 points in late-morning trading. It's feared the White House and Congress won't be able to avert a plunge over that fiscal cliff.
We'll keep an eye on the market and update this post later today.
Update at 4 p.m. ET. A Down Day:
As trading comes to a close for the day, indices are now down a little more than 2 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average is off just over 300 points.
Update at 1 p.m. ET. Still Down:
Stock indices remain down about 2 percent.
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