Stocks Fall Hard After Boehner and Cantor Announce Support on Syria

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Tuesday announced their support for President Barack Obama's call to action in Syria, undoing modest gains made in U.S. stocks.

“I’m going to support the president’s call for action,” Boehner said. "I believe that my colleagues should support this call for action.”

“I intend to vote to provide the President of the United States the option to use military force in Syria,” Cantor said in a statement. “America has a compelling national security interest to prevent and respond to the use of weapons of mass destruction, especially by a terrorist state such as Syria, and to prevent further instability in a region of vital interest to the United States.”

Shortly after voicing their support for possible military intervention in Syria, the three major U.S. stock indices -- the Dow Industrial Average, the Standard and Poor’s 500, and the Nasdaq -- took a sharp downward turn:

The Dow Industrial Average, the Standard and Poor’s 500, and the Nasdaq all opened higher Tuesday morning on the hopes that the White House had cooled on its promise to intervene in Syria.

It appears Boehner and Cantor have undone those earlier gains.

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Featured image Getty Images.

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