Stocks drop as incomes fall and budget cuts loom

A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, Dec. 28, 2012. Stocks were heading lower Friday, for a fifth day, on concern that Washington lawmakers will fail to reach a budget deal before a year-end deadline. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Stocks drop as incomes fall and budget cuts loom

Published: 02:46:17 PM, Fri 01 March 2013 UTC

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are opening sharply lower on Wall Street with automatic government spending cuts about to kick in.

The government also reported that American incomes plunged in January at the fastest pace in two decades.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 93 points, or 0.7 percent, to 13,960 shortly after the opening bell Friday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 11 points, 0.7 percent, to 1,503. The Nasdaq composite fell 29 points, or 0.9 percent, to 3,131.

President Barack Obama has called congressional leaders to the White House to give both sides an opportunity to state their positions, but there is no anticipation of a deal being struck.

American incomes fell 3.6 percent in January, the biggest drop since January 1993. That followed a solid 2.6 percent rise in December.

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