Good morning. Here's what you need to know.
- Markets are selling off after Boehner called off a vote on his 'Plan B' for the fiscal cliff last night. Asian markets sold off in overnight trading with the Nikkei down 1 percent. Europe is in the red and U.S. futures are lower as well. Update: Boehner will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. ET.
- A vote on House speaker John Boehner's 'Plan B' was called off after nearly four dozen Republicans showed their opposition to or signaled that they were on the fence about the plan. Boehner said, "Now it is up to the president to work with Senator Reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff." Dow futures plunged after hours on the news. Wall Street's biggest geniuses reveal their favorite charts >
- GE is buying the aviation unit of Italian company Avio for $4.3 billion. The deal does not include Avio's aerospace business.
- Blackberry maker Research In Motion beat expectations when it reported an adjusted loss of $0.22 per share, against analysts' estimates of a $0.36 per share loss. The stock surged as much as 6 percent after hours and then fell. Check out: the 27 greatest consumer brands in the world >
- Personal income rose 0.6 percent in November, doubling expectations of a 0.3 percent gain, while spending posted 0.4 percent growth, right in line with expectations. Durable goods orders more than doubled expectations of 0.3 percent growth, posting a 0.7 percent gain in November. Ex-transportation orders were up 1.6 percent versus expectations of a -0.2 percent decline.
- British defence company BAE Systems has signed a $4.1 billion deal with Oman. Under the deal, BAE will supply the country with 12 Typhoon and eight Hawk training jets. The deal also helped protect 6,000 jobs, according to the Guardian.
- UK's budget deficit excluding support for banks widened to £17.5 billion, against estimates for a deficit of £16 billion. Spending and revenue were up 6.3 percent, and 0.6 percent respectively.
- Late yesterday, Instagram updated its blog to say the company would revert to its 2010 terms of service in the advertising section after outrage from Instagram's users that thought the company was selling their photos to advertisers. Co-founder Kevin Systrom wrote, "Instagram has no intention of selling your photos, and we never did. We don’t own your photos – you do."
- Consumer sentiment for December is out at 9:55 a.m. ET. Consensus is for the sentiment index level to rise to 75. Follow the release at Money Game >
- Some interpretations of the Mayan calendar had predicted the world would end today, but it hasn't. Some like Nobel peace prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu* said "Maya will speak" on the 22nd, according to CBS. Others say the Mayan long count calendar doesn't actually end till Sunday. And some have always argued that it never meant the end of the world. Now here are 25 doomsday predictions, most of which were wrong >
*The piece was updated to reflect that Rigoberta Menchu isn't Mexican.
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