Stocks fell out of a bed with a bump this morning and then in the afternoon session rolled down the stairs all the way to the cellar, as US lawmakers reprised their tiresome wrangling over budget cuts, as previously seen back in July.NO PROGRESS IN CONGRESSWith the clock ticking down towards a Wednesday deadline, a cross-party committee in the US Congress tasked with agreeing $1.2 trillion of budget cuts has reportedly failed to reach a consensus. That news could put further pressure on the US's already weakened credit rating and raises the theoretical prospect of the US defaulting on its debt, although in reality markets will almost ceetainly be presented once again with a display of brinkmanship by political rivals in the US parliament before a settlement is reached. Another nation with its credit rating at risk is France. Moody's has warned that increased government bond yields and an uncertain economic outlook has put its AAA credit rating at risk. "Elevated borrowing costs persisting for an extended period would amplify the fiscal challenge the French government faces amid a deteriorating growth outlook, with negative credit implications," credit office Alexander Kockerbeck said. METALS TAKE A HAMMERINGWith commodity prices in reverse gear and with the foot jammed on the accelerator, resource stocks were out of favour.Many of the leading lights of the mining sector saw falls of more than 5%, while the oil and gas sector retreated 2.76%. The Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution sector was hit harder still, down 6.32%, with FTSE 100 stock Petrofac leading the retreat.Centrica was lower but outperformed the FTSE 100, after signing a deal with the Norwegian company Statoil to buy £13bn worth of gas over ten years. In a separate transaction, Centrica has also announced it is to buy some of Statoil's assets in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea for £965m, with a further £63m to be paid on the future performance of the assets. CORPORATE SHUFFLINGInsurance giant Resolution was the worst performing blue-chip after confirming that talks regarding the possible acquisition of Phoenix Group have been terminated. Phoenix, on the other hand, roared higher on the FTSE 250 after saying that it has received a number of approaches from other parties, most notably private equity firm CVC Capital Partners. Elsewhere in the financial sector, doubts were raised over the likelihood of ailing chief executive, António Horta-Osório, returning to the helm of Lloyds Banking Group before the end of the year. The part-nationalised lender has made contingency plans just in case his return is delayed by naming David Roberts, a non-executive director and chairman of Lloyds' Risk Committee, as the designated interim group chief executive if Horta-Osório's recuperation period takes longer than initially envisaged. The lender also revealed that Nathan Bostock, presently Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) head of restructuring and risk, will not now be leaving RBS to take charge next year of Lloyds' wholesale banking division.Not everyone was spurning Lloyds, however. General insurance group RSA is on the look-out for a new chief financial officer after the current incumbent, George Culmer, announced his intention to jump ship to Lloyds Banking Group.SECOND LINERS PROVIDE SOME CHEERDown among the FTSE 250 stocks, Diploma, the specialised technical products and services provider, edged higher after it said it saw a 47% rise in pre-tax profit in the year ended 30 September. Singer reiterated its "buy" recommendaton on the stock.Hull-based telecoms group KCOM was another on the rise, ahead of results tomorrow.FTSE 100 - RisersShire Plc (SHP) 2,008.00p +0.15%FTSE 100 - FallersResolution Ltd. (RSL) 230.20p -7.51%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 23.42p -7.05%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,593.00p -6.90%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 807.50p -6.38%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,304.00p -6.32%Essar Energy (ESSR) 227.80p -6.26%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,009.00p -6.23%Vedanta Resources (VED) 947.50p -6.19%Xstrata (XTA) 888.10p -6.07%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 600.00p -5.96%FTSE 250 - RisersPhoenix Group Holdings (DI) (PHNX) 525.00p +6.69%Telecom Plus (TEP) 729.00p +1.18%Diploma (DPLM) 305.10p +0.93%Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 477.70p +0.72%BH Macro Ltd. USD Shares (BHMU) 19.99 +0.71%Spirent Communications (SPT) 117.90p +0.68%KCOM Group (KCOM) 74.20p +0.61%International Public Partnerships Ltd. (INPP) 119.20p +0.59%AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 232.00p +0.52%SDL (SDL) 617.00p +0.33%FTSE 250 - FallersCable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 17.66p -11.08%Centamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 88.40p -10.71%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 32.21p -9.93%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 163.80p -8.34%Big Yellow Group (BYG) 218.00p -8.06%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 242.20p -7.13%Petropavlovsk (POG) 638.00p -6.79%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 435.00p -6.75%Afren (AFR) 81.00p -6.57%EnQuest (ENQ) 92.65p -6.32%
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