GOP Uses Twitter, Facebook to Revive 'Cliff' Talks and Rally Market

In a Senate chamber speech at the market close, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Obama had reached out to the Senate's GOP leadership about the prospect of reviving deal talks. While Sen. McConnell (R-Kan.) expressed skepticism on the timing of President Obama's last minute outreach, he added, "We might finally start talking... Hopefully there is still time for a deal of some kind."

In a second Senate floor address of the day after the market close, Reid replied to McConnell, saying he would be willing to act on a "reasonable" proposal offered by House or Senate Republicans.

"I am now neutral/small bullish. Been a week or so since I felt comfortable not being short US stocks," wrote Peter Tchir, founder of TF Market Advisors, wrote on Twitter, as details of a last-minute effort to cut a fiscal cliff deal emerged.

As Senators McConnell and Reid spoke at the market close, others thought Thursday's theatrics wouldn't amount to much in the way of a deal. "Fallin over the cliff looks like near inevitable as Reps and Dems are deadlocked," Nouriel Roubini wrote on Twitter.

For more on the fiscal cliff, see why a housing recovery could blunt a partisan standoff. Also see why bank stocks fell on Thursday.

-- Written by Antoine Gara in New York