European stocks close:

European (SXXP) stocks fell from a 19-month high as U.S. House Republicans canceled a vote on higher taxes for top earners, fueling concern budget talks will fail.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.3 percent to 280.95 at the close in London, paring its weekly gain to 0.6 percent.

Indexes pared earlier losses after a report showed orders for durable goods in the U.S. climbed 0.7 percent last month, beating the median forecast for a 0.3 percent increase in a Bloomberg survey. A separate release showed U.S. consumer confidence fell in December to a five-month low.

National benchmark indexes fell in 12 of the 18 western European markets.

FTSE 100 5,939.99 -18.35 -0.31% CAC 40 3,661.4 -5.33 -0.15% DAX 7,636.23 -35.87 -0.47%

Aeroports de Paris (ADP) slumped 5.4 percent to 58.62 euros, the biggest decline since August 2011, after cutting projections for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and for traffic growth. ADP now expects Ebitda growth of 25 percent to 35 percent between 2009 and 2015, compared with its previous forecast of 40 percent.

ArcelorMittal dropped 2.5 percent to 12.88 euros. The world’s biggest steelmaker will write down the goodwill in its European businesses by about $4.3 billion as the region’s weakening economy erodes demand.

Eurasian Natural Resources Corp., a producer of ferro alloys and iron ore in Kazakhstan, slid 1.4 percent to 276.9 pence. The stock was cut to neutral from buy at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. A measure of the shares of commodity companies declined for a third day.

Alcatel-Lucent SA (ALU) lost 3.8 percent to 1.02 euro. Standard & Poor’s may cut the French network-equipment vendor’s long-term rating.

Spectris Plc (SXS) fell 1.5 percent to 2,019 pence, for the largest drop in more than a month. the U.K.’s biggest maker of production-testing gear was downgraded to hold from buy at Investec.