U.S. stocks retreat as cliff tensions rise
House Speaker John Boehner: House will pass plan B Thursday
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks on Wednesday fell sharply after a two-session rally as negotiations to avoid deep spending cuts and tax hikes seemed to hit an especially rocky spot.

President Barack Obama told a news conference that Republicans find it “very hard” to say yes to him, while a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, called the White House “irrational.”

But Tim Leach, chief investment officer at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, said such heated back-and-forth is to be expected. “The tension is going to rise, and we’re probably going to experience some of those uncomfortable silences from both parties. That is going to raise anxiety in the marketplace,” said Leach.
Retreating from a two-month high, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI JIA) fell 98.99 points, or 0.7%, to 13,251.97.

The S&P 500 Index (SNC:SPX) shed 10.98 points, or 0.8%, to 1,435.81, with telecommunications hardest hit among its 10 industry sectors.

General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM) jumped 6.6% after the auto maker said it would buy 200 million shares of its stock from the U.S. Treasury, part of the government’s plan to sell all of its stake in the firm.

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL) climbed 3.7% a day after the software company reported profit and sales that surpassed Wall Street’s expectations.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ:COMP) shed 10.17 points, or 0.3%, to 3,044.36.

Decliners outran advancers on the New York Stock Exchange, where nearly 751 million shares traded. Composite volume exceeded 3.8 billion. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stocks-lose-...=afterbell