Fiscal Cliff Concerns Weigh Down Markets

November 13, 2012 at 17:24 PM EST

Fiscal cliff concerns weighed the markets down to a lower close with the Dow losing 58 points to 12,756. Nasdaq dropped 20 points to 2883.
On the upside
The Food and Drug Administration released briefing papers on Dynavax Technologies' (Nasdaq: DVAX) hepatitis B treatment Heplisav ahead of an advisory meeting on Thursday.
Reuters reported that Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) retained the services of JPMorgan Chase to explore strategic options but the chipmaker denied that it would sell the company.
ZaZa Energy (Nasdaq: ZAZA) reversed year ago losses to post a profit for the third quarter as revenue surged. On the downside
To prevent MBIA (NYSE: MBI) from jeopardizing policyholder claims, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) offered to purchase outstanding senior notes from the mortgage insurer.
Street-Wire issued a report saying that continued global economic challenges have negatively impacted alcohol sales to weigh down shares of Central European Distribution (Nasdaq: CEDC).
Shares of Abraxa Petroleum (Nasdaq: AXAS) continued falling after reporting a loss for the third quarter last week.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 2 to 1 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 4 points to 789.