US fiscal-cliff negotiations in focus

The upcoming winter session of the parliament in India and fiscal-cliff negotiations in the US will dictate trend on bourses in the near term. The winter session of the parliament begins on Thursday, 22 November 2012. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday, 16 November 2012, said that the winter session will have a heavy legislative agenda. Siemens announces its results of the year ended 30 September 2012 on Friday, 23 November 2012 US President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders begin fiscal-cliff negotiations on Friday, 16 November 2012. Investors are worried about the possibility of the so-called "fiscal cliff" in US, if the Congress fails to act. The fiscal cliff refers to the year-end deadline for the expiration of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of tax cuts and the triggering of $109 billion in across-the-board spending cuts. The US Congress created the hazardous deadline of 31 December 2012 in August 2011 when it agreed to a deficit deal as a way out of a deadlock over raising the US debt ceiling. In Europe, an extraordinary meeting of euro-zone finance ministers is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, 20 November 2012, after euro-zone finance ministers after holding a meeting on 12 November 2012 delayed releasing the next tranche of bailout money to Greece.