Eagle Eye Opener: Markets Fall Overseas after House Speaker Cancels Vote; GE Grows with Acquisition

Fiscal Cliff-Hanger: Republicans Cancel Vote (BLOOMBERG)

Investors only could watch in dismay earlier today as markets in the Far East and Europe lost ground, along with U.S. Futures, when Republicans canceled a key vote on raising taxes. With no new vote scheduled until after Christmas, the window for arriving at an agreement gets smaller each day. In response to this latest setback, Japan’s Nikkei lost .99%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell .68% and Shanghai’s Composite plunged .69%. In Europe, the FTSE 100, CAC 40 and German DAX gave back .4%, .33% and .46%, respectively. Let’s hope lawmakers get “perspective” for Christmas.

GE Expands into European Engine Market (Reuters)

As the rest of the world buys toilet paper, milk and bread ahead of the January 1, 2013, fiscal cliff, U.S. leviathan General Electric (GE) hung out its “business as usual” sign.  Yesterday, it bought the aviation portion of Italian-company Avio’s business for 3.3 billion euros. While Avio strengthens GE’s supply-chain capabilities, it also provides the U.S. conglomerate with a significant in-house business partner, as more than half of Avio’s 2011 aviation revenue came from GE and GE-joint venture deals.