NEW YORK, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks closed lower Monday as investors' concerns about the looming"fiscal cliff" issue still pressured the market, while weak U.S. economic data added worries on the economic growth.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 59.98, or 0.46 percent, to close at 12,965.60. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock Index dropped 6.72, or 0.47 percent, to 1,409.46, while the Nasdaq Composite Index retreated 8.04, or 0.27 percent, to 3,002.20.
The U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and six other House Republican leaders on Sunday unveiled a proposal, calling for 800 billion dollars in revenues through tax reforms and 600 billion dollars in health savings among other offers. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also said that the Republicans would ultimately agree to raise tax rates on the rich to avert the potential economic disaster of the cliff.
Investors still lacked confidence in the solutions to avert the fiscal cliff and the mood weighed on Monday's market.
In Europe, Greece announced debt-buyback plans on Monday, in an effort to lower its increasing debt. The bond repurchase is key to the efforts of its foreign lenders to put Greece's debt back on sustainable footing, and will help the debt-ridden country receive funding to avoid bankruptcy.