Specialist Christopher Culhane works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. Stocks opened sharply lower Friday on Wall Street after Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives 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. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Specialist Christopher Culhane works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. Stocks opened sharply lower Friday on Wall Street after Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives 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. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Joseph Lawler, left, and specialist Jay Woods work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. Stocks opened sharply lower Friday on Wall Street 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. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange observe a minute of silence before the opening bell in honor of Sandy Hook Elementary School victims and their families, Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. Stocks opened sharply lower Friday on Wall Street 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. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Specialist Henry Becker, right, works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. Stocks opened sharply lower Friday on Wall Street 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. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Specialist Jason Hardzewic, left, and trader Ryan Falvey work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. Stocks opened sharply lower Friday on Wall Street 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. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Investors sent Washington a reminder Friday that Wall Street is a power player in talks 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.
Just after noon, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 168 points at 13,143, a decline of more than 1 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 19 points at 1,424. The Nasdaq composite index fell 43 to 3,007.
The House bill would have raised taxes on Americans making at least $1 million per year and locked in decade-old tax cuts for Americans making less. Taxes will rise for almost all Americans on Jan. 1 unless Congress acts.
House Speaker John Boehner had presented what he called "Plan B" while he negotiated with the White House on avoiding the sweeping tax increases and spending cuts, a combination known as the "fiscal cliff."
But Boehner scrapped a vote on the bill Thursday night after it became clear that it did not have enough support in the Republican-led House to secure passage. He called on the White House and the Democratic-led Senate to work something out.
The market's decline demonstrated that investors' nerves are raw as they await a resolution. Sal Arnuk, a partner at Themis Trading, suggested that the sharp drop in stocks might have been an overreaction.
"It's not a surprise that they weren't able to come to an agreement," he said. I don't think most of Wall Street anticipated that they would come to an agreement."
Other markets registered their concern, but the reaction was not extreme. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 0.05 percentage point to 1.75 percent.
The price of gold, which some investors buy when fear overtakes the market, climbed, but only by 0.6 percent.
If the full "fiscal cliff" takes effect, economists say it could drag the United States into recession next year. The impact would be gradual, though, and a recession is not a sure thing.
Most people would receive only slightly less money in each paycheck. And the tax increases and spending cuts could be retroactively repealed if a deal comes together after Jan. 1.
If budget talks dragged on, many businesses might put off investment or hiring, and consumer spending could suffer. That's why most economists say it would be crucial to reach a deal within roughly the first two months of 2013.
Technology stocks were among the hardest hit in early trading. Tech stocks in the S&P 500 were down 0.9 percent as a group. Apple, the most valuable company in the country, fell $6.94 to $514.79.
It was not the first time that Wall Street worried about the "fiscal cliff" talks.
On the day after the election, when voters returned divided government to power, the Dow dropped 312 points. On Nov. 14, when President Barack Obama insisted on higher tax rates for the wealthy, the Dow dropped 185 points.
Stocks closed sharply lower Friday in Asia after House Republicans canceled their vote. The Nikkei index in Japan fell almost 1 percent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.7 percent. Stocks were also lower in Europe.
Among stocks making big moves:
? Walgreen slumped $1.17 to $36.38 after the nation's largest drugstore chain filled fewer prescriptions and absorbed costs tied to acquisitions and Superstorm Sandy. The results were worse than financial analysts had been expecting.
? Blackberry maker Research in Motion dropped 15 percent, or $2.14, to $11.81 after the company said it won't generate as much revenue from telecommunications carriers once it releases the new BlackBerry 10.
? Nike jumped $5.32 to $104.32 after the world's largest athletic gear maker 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.
? Micron Technology dropped 8 percent, the biggest decline in the S&P 500 index. The semiconductor maker reported a loss late Thursday as weaker demand for personal computers and an oversupply of certain chips hurt its sales. The stock was off 55 cents at $6.24.
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